《Another World: Scientist》 Chapter 0. The Start. My name is Hayden Igbhan. A scientist dealing with many different studies... Quantum Mechanics, Mechatronics... Advanced Cloning and Artificial Intelligence. The year is 3614... That means I''ve been alive for 50 years and I still have about 250 to go. I have personally been involved with building a sort of teleportation device... We will hijack this ''signal'' that appears every time a human suddenly disappears into thin air. This signal by rumors has existed for thousands of years taking people from Earth and now is taking people from other planets aswell. I want to see why... And where it is taking them. So me and a group of scientist and engineers built this with funding from the Goverment of Planet Cetreia. If anybody finds this and a lot of dead bodies due to an explosion... That means it malfunctioned and we failed probably. I am going to be inside the machine trying to make the signal teleport me to the other end of the signal. The group of scientists and engineers I am working with will leave their own part of the story in this same datapad. Sincerely, Lead Scientist, Hayden Ighban. --- End Transmission --- "Are we ready Alicia?" (Hayden) "Yeah. Only the signal needs to come." (Alicia) "Good. Everybody completely ready? This might work perfectly or not at all." (Hayden) "We wouldn''t be doing this if we weren''t ready for this important part of history. We just need to make sure where the hell you would be going... But leave that to us, Hayden." (Scientists) This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. "Hahahah! I sure will! Where are the engineers by the way? I haven''t seen them around." (Hayden) "They were called to help build the T.R.I.O.N." (Scientists) "Oh... That thing..." (Hayden) Suddenly all the sensors go off as the signal appears. I run towards the machine and sit down on the chair and strap myself in. The other scientists put all the necessary survival things on the box that will be teleported at the same time as me in a little bit smaller version and less complex one as the one I am in. "The signal is basically right inside this room! The perfect chance! Start the process! Jayd!" (Alicia) "Will do!" (Jayd) Jayd the experienced scientist who is a tall skinny genius basically... My best friend. Alicia, my sister... She was voted the cutest scientist every year since she came here with me. This might be the last time I see both of them and the last time I see this building... "Hayden, you ready?" (Alicia) "Yup. Press it." (Hayden) "Bye..." (Alicia) Alicia waves goodbye and I smile before I am teleported. I only see a long cylinder tunnel with no seeming end... Just like a Faster Than Light jump... Where will I end up at? We shall see. Chapter 1. The New World. I keep walking through the Faster Than Light jump Cylinder for a while and I still see no end... "How long must I walk for...?" (Hayden) I keep walking until I notice a box fly past my ear almost touching it and then I am suddenly thrown forward as well by something... "What the hell!" (Hayden) As I get thrown forward I try to examine what is propelling me forward. "Gravity? No... I would feel gravity pulling me. Wind...? Impossible... But what can it be?" (Hayden) I keep wondering while I basically fly through the Cylinder. After a while I suddenly see a flash of bright light that blinds me for a second and when I see again... "This... Is... Where?" (Hayden) I am on my back and feel soft soil and grass behind me and I see leaves and trees everywhere. "A forest? Does that mean... I did it!?" (Hayden) I jump up from excitement and raise my hands up in the air after shouting. I then realize how stupid my action was as I literally don''t have any idea where I am, who is my enemy or who is my ally. I lower my hands and look around for the box... And it''s up on a tree. I go to the tree that is holding the box and kick it once and the box falls down. "Good... It actually fell down with one hit." (Hayden) I go to the box and open it up. "Jesus... They really packed everything." (Hayden) I rummage through the things I have and notice three big water bottles... An oxygen canister that they managed to put in somehow... Potato seed packets... A food box? I know who put that in there... I take out the things I already mentioned and see there is even more in here! How did they fit these in here! I see a Mechanical Drill... An axe and three small solar chargers and a flashlight... A backpack to put everything in... And inside the side-pocket of the backpack a scientists kit and inside a welder and grinder to build things with... I won''t even ask how they got everything in the box. They always do things I can''t imagine. After I seemingly take everything out I notice one thing on the bottom... An A.I drone. I take it out of the box carefully and activate it. "Activating systems... Activating propulsion boosters... Activating Hovering Boosters... Activating all Back-up Systems... Activation complete. Activating A.I Core. Activation complete." (Drone) The A.I Drone launched up into the air and hovers back down to my head level. "Hello. My name is Ion. My master is Alicia Igbahn but it seems she has set a new rule-set inside my A.I Core that makes you my master as well based on my face recognition system. So, Ion welcomes master." (Ion) "Hello Ion. Just call me Hayden. So Alicia put you in the box... Figures... She cares for me too much... A tad too much for me to feel safe sleeping in the same room with her without her watching me sleep..." (Hayden.) "Ion cannot laugh but Ion understands the joke. It is quite funny by my standards." (Ion) "Ok, Ion... Shall we get scouting?" (Hayden) I pack everything in the backpack that I have. "As you wish, Hayden." (Ion) Ion hovers closer to me as I plot a direction... East... East has always shown me good things. I start walking east while Ion attaches himself onto my head with some robot legs? I can''t really see but it didn''t hurt me so I don''t care. "Hayden, Ion realizes that Ion has no way of charging himself. How will Hayden keep Ion alive?" (Ion) I grab my backpack and open it up and hand one solar charger to Ion and then close it and put it on my back again. "Thank you, Hayden. Ion can now charge to full whenever needed." (Ion) We keep heading East until I get out of the forest... "I think we should go back into the forest..." (Hayden) "Ion agrees! Ion wants to go back into the forest now!" (Ion) What we see infront of us is three dragons fighting a huge army of... Harpies? I start walking backwards but some of the side-line harpies that aren''t doing anything spot me. "Hayden..." (Ion) Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. "Yup... RUN." (Hayden) I start running back into the forest full speed but the Harpies catch up in no time. I can hear one of them laughing from above... "Ion, Can you open the backpack and hand me the drill inside?" (Hayden) "Will do! Anything not to die yet!" (Ion) Ion detaches himself and opens the backpack and flies infront of me with the drill. I grab it and Ion attaches himself to my head again after closing the backpack. "Thanks..." (Hayden) One of the harpies flies down probably to catch us because the talons are going straight for my back. "Not... Today..." (Hayden) I power up the drill and suddenly stop and point the drill upwards and it goes straight through the harpies skull, killing it by making a brain smoothy. The other harpy stares at us, screeches and then flies away really quickly. "Ion is pleased by harpies death." (Ion) I sigh as I pull out the now bloody drill from the Harpies skull. I decide to take a closer look at the harpy... Wings, human face... Half-human half-bird chest, bird-like legs but human... "Ok... These are harpies... Also... We should run. I am entirely sure that one will go and get some backup." (Hayden) "Ion agrees." (Ion) We run towards the West where we came from. The forest is better. Way better. And it seems better to lay low for now... My first meeting with the world residents did not go well. I run back to the spot where I first got to the world and decide to build a small camp here. Nobody can see me from above due to the thick leaves covering the inside part of the forest... And I won''t take the big trees down that cover me. Only the smaller, not so needed ones to build things... "Ion, can you project things?" (Hayden) "I can. I have a projection program inside my core." (Ion) "Good... We''ll need some power to start ourselves up... Ion, how many things would we need for a reactor?" (Hayden) "Well... Things we won''t have without power.." (Ion) "Thank you Ion... But could we build something solar?" (Hayden) "Yes, we can. The holding structure would have to be built out of stone or wood but we could make something out of the glass... We''d just need some Iron and some other minerals... The only problem is... The photovoltaics. We don''t have any and the materials to build it with are too deep for your drill to get." (Ion) "Concentrated Sunlight? Glass in the trees but not big enough to be noticed and it concentrates on the solar engine?" (Hayden) "Could work perfectly. One solar engine would be enough for a while to get our base up and running due to the efficiency of the solar engine." (Ion) "Then that is our plan! Build a solar engine, somehow super-heat some sand into glass and power the solar engine!" (Hayden) "Shall do. And the super-heating is easy. Your drill after working for a while is super-heated so after mining enough Iron quickly come up after gathering some sand and putting it on the ground and then just make the sand into glass. While you were running I spotted a lake with sand around it." (Ion) "Ah... Good. We just need to start building then." (Hayden) "Yes. Ion will stay here and guard the camp. I can kind of see the lake from here even so I can hear you if you scream for help." (Ion) "Thanks for that Ion." (Hayden) "Anything for my master." (Ion) "Well... I''ll get going." (Hayden) I put down my backpack and only grab the bloody drill, some food and a bottle of water and leave towards the location Ion pointed. This world is intriguing... Harpies? Dragons? Even some of the trees look weird because they have some kind of engraving on them... Well... I''ll see all of that once I''ve gotten my base up and running and I won''t die to anything. I don''t have near infinite bodies laying around like some of the clones we had back at the lab... I keep walking towards the lake to gather up some sand. "This world... It''s going to be fun..." (Hayden) Chapter 2. Basic Construction I walk towards the lake and drink an entire bottle of water before I get there so I have something to carry the sand with. When I reach the lake I take a quick look around to make sure no creature sneaks up on me and attacks me... "Nothing... Just the way I like it right now." (Hayden) I start gathering the sand in the bottle while looking in the lake to see if there are any fish in it. There are fish... Fish with huge spikes on them but fish... They remind me of the ancient fish... Blowfish. One of the fish jumps up into the air but I notice something... This one doesn''t have spikes... Since it shot them at me! I dodge the spikes just in time and quickly gather the sand and run. I am NOT going back there without a shield of some kind... On the way back to base I wonder how they could shoot their spikes... Something inside of them? Pressurized air glands? It''s possible... I''ll need to study that fish... Extensively... I reach the base and quickly tell Ion what happened at the Lake after pouring the sand on the ground. "Hmm... A fish like a blowfish... Except it shot the spikes at you from mid air? There are two things wrong there. The fact that it was in the air that long and the fact that it shot spikes which is virtually impossible for normal lifeforms." (Ion) "We do not know anything about this world Ion. The only thing we do know is Harpies exist and so do Dragons. Things we have tried to replicate in our world for... A thousand years? Ever since cloning became a viable thing..." (Hayden) "That is correct. Also... I look over the sand and I think we will need a tad more." (Ion) "How much more?" (Hayden) "A backpack full." (Ion) Ion looks at the backpack as I sigh and grab it. "Fine... I''ll go and get some more and I will try NOT to get stabbed or shot or whichever it is." (Hayden) "Ion will stay here and think about what we will do after the solar engine!" (Ion) "Yes yes Ion..." (Hayden) I sigh and go back to the lake after picking up a stick that seems sharp enough to protect me from the fish... I arrive at the lake and start shoving the sand in the backpack as fast as I can... Which is pretty fast. I look in the lake every once in a while to make sure none of them are swimming up to jump up to throw spikes at me. After I finish gathering all the sand I hear something in the bushes. "Noo... Stay in the bushes and don''t come out..." (Hayden) I close the backpack and run towards the base at top speed. When I look back I see a rabbit chasing me... "Not nice rabbit! Rabbit with sharp sharp knives on it''s body stay back! Ion!!!" (Hayden) I run and run and I see Ion looking at me and seemingly laughing until he notices the knives. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. "Knives?! Knives?! I''m on it!" (Ion) He projects a wall infront of the Rabbit which confuses it and it leaves us alone... "Why didn''t you use this on the harpies...?" (Hayden) "Harpy was intelligent. Rabbit... Not so much." (Ion) "Ah... Ok." (Hayden) I put all the sand on the ground and Ion takes a look at it. "Yup. This is enough. Now... Just to got the other materials." (Ion) "Diggy diggy hole?" (Hayden) "Yes Hayden... Diggy diggy hole." (Ion) I grab the drill and start digging in a tilted way so I can get back up aswell. After a while I reach the stone and start digging it and rolling it out and after a while I find some Iron... Which is luck. I need Iron. Lots of it. I drill all the iron out and bring it up while drilling the side to keep the drill super-heated. After a while I get all the Iron and stone out and I have put my drill on the sand to make glass. "Now... Ion... How do we get the Iron to melt." (Hayden) "Fire below, your drill mixing it up inside of the iron ore. We''ll need to make a stone crucible though." (Ion) "Sounds... Normal?" (Hayden) "It is Hayden. It is. I''ve already projected a few things around the base. You just need to make them." (Ion) "Thank you Ion. You really are a help..." (Hayden) I grab the welder and the grinder and start making the basic shape of the crucible and after a while I finish making the crucible. I put all the Iron in it and with my axe I take down three small trees that didn''t affect the wildlife at all and our cover at all either. I put them on fire with the heated drill and then start mixing the iron to make ingots. After a while the Iron Ore turns into melted iron and after a long time of waiting it turns into the Iron I need. I tilt the crucible so the Iron falls to the ground and then I grind it into the shape of the Solar Engine parts we need. I sometimes thin some of the iron out to make some wiring. After four days of building and sleeping and sometimes eating I finish the solar engine. Ion placed the glass in the trees after I made a support with stone that we had left over so our base now has some kind of power because the solar engine works! And it doesn''t make much sound which is good... "We finished, Hayden." (Ion) "Indeed we did... What next?" (Hayden) "Some basic things... Assembler, walls for protection, a storage locker... You know... The needed things." (Ion) "Hmm... Storage locker first then walls then Assembler... Easier that way." (Hayden) "Alright. For the storage locker we will need more Iron and some stone. Time for you to mine." (Ion) "Yaay... Mining..." (Hayden) I grab the drill and head back into the mineshaft which I have reinforced with supports... Time... To mine... Chapter 3. Much Needed Constructions, The First Squadron. I mine and mine for the entire day until I finally gather enough materials! I come out of the mine with my head red due to me hitting it against every rock possible... And I mean that... "Perfect" (Ion) "Sooo... Shall we begin?" (Hayden) "Placing the projection for the blueprint now." (Ion) "Thank you Ion." (Hayden) Ion projects the storage container and I start building it... It takes a while due to the fact that I had to build the hinges so the door opens so I can get things... "What is next?" (Hayden) "Walls." (Ion) "Projection please." (Hayden) "Shall do." (Ion) Ion projects the walls around the base just where I wanted them and I start constructing them while looking out for the rabbit... I finish about one fourth of the walls until a herd of those rabbits appear and jump around but dissapear in the next moment and I hear shouting... "Ion! Camo projections for walls? Anything!?" (Hayden) "Taking samples from surrounding, analyzing, projecting camouflage!" (Ion) I jump down from the wall I had just finished and stay behind a corner, peeking. I see a ton of... Fairies? Fairies... "Ion, we have fairies. Put that into the database of this world." (Hayden)If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "Immediatly..." (Ion) I keep looking and I see a little girl flying behind grown men and women who are hunting the rabbits and the little girl stops and looks at the base for a second and then a fairy comes back and grabs the girl. "Sir, with kind words... I think we were spotted just now!" (Ion) "I saw that. We better finish these walls... And... FAST." (Hayden) I climb back ontop the walls and start welding and grinding them into place as fast as I can while keeping an eye out for anything living. After an hour I finish the walls and begin construction on the gate that leads in and out of the base. I finish that in half an hour and Ion takes a look at it. "Solid... I don''t think they will come through this without a rocket launcher... Which I hope they do not have." (Ion) "We both hope that Ion. We both hope that. Now... The assembler..." (Hayden) I look over to the cauldron to make sure my last batch of materials is melted and it is... Now to solidify them... I take the proper procedures not to burn myself or kill myself and make them into Iron after waiting for a tad of time. Ion projects the assembler and I make the frame for it and climb inside it and slowly start putting the necessary things into place... After eight hours I finish the assembler... "Finally done..." (Hayden) "Sir... We have a problem. The child is back." (Ion) "..." (Hayden) I make my way to the gate and peek out through a glass hole I made just for this reason.. And she is there. With her parents... "Ithrakil Sapientru Kerilla!" (Fairy Child) "Hayden... They are speaking languages we don''t understand." (Ion) "Thank you captain obvious..." (Hayden) I listen more closely. "Nontherus! Sapientru Kerilla nen existeriana fortorjey Yggdrassil!" (Fairy) "Sapientru Kerilla! Ithrakil! Ithrakil!" (Fairy Child) She points at the base directly. "Nen existeriana! Kalthril homaya." (Fairy) "Sir. They are still there." (Ion) "I can see that Ion." (Hayden) I keep looking and the child runs forward towards the base. "Sir..." (Ion) "No no no no no no..." (Hayden) "Kayo! Kalthril homaya nuo!" (Fairy) One of the parents grabs the child just before she reveals our existense to every being in our known world. Which includes an army of Harpies, two dragons and now those Fairies. "Ithrakil! Ithrakil!" (Fairy Child) She starts crying and the other parent sighs and walks forward towards the base. "Sir. We are royally screwed now." (Ion) I hear a loud scream and the Fairies immediatly react and run away but the child looks at the glass hole once and I locked eyes with her... "Something tells me this won''t be the last time we see them." (Hayden) "Ion hopes it is!" (Ion) "Well... Time to rest... Ion, what shall you do?" (Hayden) "I shall watch over the base so we don''t die." (Ion) "Thank you Ion." (Hayden) I fall asleep... Chapter 4. The series of problems start... I wake up to see Ion floating around the base nervously. "Ion?" (Hayden) "Finally you woke up Hayden... Keep it down... The kid is here again with a surprise..." (Ion) I silently get up and go to the gate and look through the peek hole... "So Hayden...?" (Ion) "A problem it is..." (Hayden) I look at Ion and then at the child who is holding... Spears. Many spears. She picks one up and throws it at the gate and then picks another one up and throws it at the gate again and starts bombarding the gate... "Hayden..." (Ion) "It is good we made this out of Iron and Stone right?" (Hayden) "Very good..." (Ion) I keep looking through the peek hole and she restlessly throws spears at the gate... "Why is this child so persistent on revealing our existence?" (Hayden) "Ion has no idea..." (Ion) "What shall we do?" (Hayden) Ion floats around slightly panicked until he stops. "I have an idea, Hayden... It includes very high risk and the child knowing of us and nothing thinking this as her imagination." (Ion) "So... We reveal ourselves?" (Hayden) Ion stops for a second and shuts down because he has been operating for the entire night without anything charging him. "Damn it Ion..." (Hayden) I go back to my glass peek hole and stare at the kid until the loud roar is heard again and the child runs away leaving the spears behind...Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. I keep looking through the peek hole until I see the cause of the roar... A massive lion... As big a house... It''s teeth glow in the sunlight that barely comes through the leaves... It''s eyes meet mine and it walks towards the gate and sits down infront of it looking through the glass eye... "Hello..." (Hayden) The lion stares at me, gets up, turns around hitting the gate with it''s tail making the gate shake a lot and almost open... It looks to see if the gate is open or not and then leaves... "Don''t tell me... The lion is more intelligent than the fairy child and possibly even the fairy parents...? Oh come on this world! You have got to be kidding me..." (Hayden) Maybe it wasn''t such a good idea to hijack that signal... Since this world is deadly... And I forgot to pack any weaponry... Why did I forget to pack any weaponry!? I go to Ion while hitting my head for forgetting to pack weapons... I take a look at the charge Ion has and it''s almost thirty percent again... I turn Ion back on and he floats up into the air. "Did I shut down?" (Ion) "Yes you did... The child left aswell... But we have a bigger problem than a fairy child now..." (Hayden) "Bigger problem?" (Ion) "It is more intelligent, stronger and bigger than a fairy... A lion. A house-sized lion with high intellect..." (Hayden) "Can Ion shut down again?" (Ion) "No!" (Hayden) "Ok..." (Ion) I go back to the glass peek hole and I see the child quickly gathering the spears while crying a little and I notice she is bleeding and has a red cheek... "Ion... Look..." (Hayden) Ion goes to the peek hole and stares through it... "Crying? Bleeding... Red cheek? She got hit by her parents...?" (Ion) "It seems so..." (Hayden) The child finishes picking up the spears on the ground and comes to take the spears that were thrown at the gate... She picks them up and notices the gate has moved slightly and gets frightened and runs... "She got frightened because the gate was moved by the Lion a tad? Well... If they have to deal with those Lions daily... I''d be frightened aswell." (Hayden) "Well Hayden... Our problems have just begun. We need a food and water source... That means you have to make a small river from the lake to here or find a water source underground since we don''t have water generators..." (Ion) A tear falls to the ground when I hear that... I have to go outside? "Ion... Can you detect any water sources? Or can you even do that?" (Hayden) "I have a thermal sensor... I could look for water spots underground since they are colder than the surrounding stones usually." (Ion) "Please..." (Hayden) Ion activates the thermal sensor and looks around and underground and goes into the mine a tad and then comes out. "Nothing. The only water source nearby is the lake..." (Ion) "Hahah..." (Hayden) I sit down and think for a while... A safe way to make a small river from the lake to here without being noticed... Underground! "Ion! I know a way! I''ll dig underground and make supports so even if the lion decides to take a nap on the pathway it won''t collapse and the water will come from the lake and nobody will know!" (Hayden) "Brilliant!" (Ion) I start my plan while Ion keeps a look-out for the Lion and the child... Why do I have a feeling that at the end of this plan something is going to go very wrong...? Chapter 5. Water. I dig and dig and dig towards the lake and after hours of digging I reach the lake and water starts pouring into the path I made... "Finally..." (Hayden) I look at the small fountain of water and decide to make it bigger so more water comes through. After I made it bigger and it filled the pathway to my knees I ran back to the base. I climb out of the hole to the Pathway to the lake. "Done, Ion... Done." (Hayden) "That is good... The people outside the gate are not so good." (Ion) "People outside the gate?" (Hayden) I walk to the peek hole and look through it... "These people... They aren''t fairies... Harpies..." (Hayden) "The people who followed us into the forest before?" (Ion) "Yes... Them..." (Hayden) A band of fairies comes out of the bushes and starts talking to them... "This could end really badly..." (Ion) "Do we have any weapons? Guns?" (Hayden) "No... We don''t..." (Ion) Next thing to do if we survive this... Build guns and tons of ammo... The people outside the gate leave towards the direction that the lion always leaves... Are they going to hunt the lion? Well... Atleast they don''t know we are here so we are safe... "They left..." (Ion) "We need guns. And Ammo..." (Hayden)This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. "We don''t have any gunpowder nor can we make any..." (Ion) "Any other ways? Do we really have no way of creating guns?" (Hayden) Ion starts looking at blueprints while I go and check on the water that has completely filled up the pathway and turned it into a river... Just as needed. I look deeper into the water and small fish are swimming in the water... All according to plan... "Sir.. There is no way for us to make guns. We''ll need to begin with the swords and such first..." (Ion) "Alright. Atleast we''ll have something to defend ourselves with..." (Hayden) Ion projects a Longsword, a sword and a dagger onto the workplace and I start crafting them one by one... The handle, the hilt, the blade and the scabbard... After two hours or so I finish the swords and dagger and start engraving some symbols into them as tradition in our world... "Hayden, is this the tradition that everybody talks about?" (Ion) "The blessing? Yes... It is. Might sound weird that a scientist believes in gods but that is common nowadays... The public thinks it''s weird though." (Hayden) After I finish engraving the symbols the gate starts to slowly open though none of us are near it... "Ion!" (Hayden) "Got it!" (Ion) Ion charges the gate to see what is opening it and I run near the gate with my swords in their scabbards. What I saw was unexpected... The lion was dead before the gate... It tried to open the gate with it''s last strength but couldn''t... "Wait... If the lion is here... Where are the hunters..." (Hayden) I hear happy shouting in the distance coming closer... "Sir... We need to close the gate... Now." (Ion) "We can''t close it with the body in the way..." (Hayden) I start pushing the lion''s body but I can''t even move it a millimeter... "It''s too heavy for me... This is really bad..." (Hayden) The hunters are right next to the lion and are start to drag it away... All but one... The last one comes towards the gate to look what the Lion was trying to do as it''s last action... "I''ll need to kill him..." (Hayden) I take my dagger out of it''s scabbard. "There is no other choice if he enters..." (Ion) The hunter comes closer and closer until the others call for him and he leaves while looking at the blood stains. We look as they all leave and then close the gate... I put the dagger back in it''s scabbard. "That was bad... Real bad... We were on the edge of being discovered." (Hayden) "Not on the edge of being discovered... On the edge of dying." (Ion) I nod as I put the swords near the gate and keep the dagger. "We have water... I saw some fish in the water that can keep me living for a long while... I guess it''s time to explore? Since we don''t have enough resources to do much.. And digging won''t help us much... Might collapse the land below us right now if I dig wrong..." (Hayden) "Indeed... It is time to explore if you say so." (Ion) "I''m heading to sleep... Ion you should recharge. I doubt anybody will bother us for a bit of time." (Hayden) Ion shuts down and starts recharging and I fall asleep near the swords looking at the dark night sky... Tomorrow is the time of exploration... We explored for a bit of time... Saw two dragons... I wonder what we will see now? Chapter 6. Exploration. I wake up and Ion is recharged as well... I grab my swords and put the sword on my hip, the longsword on my back and the dagger on my chest to easily grab them if needed. "Ion, are you coming with me to exploration?" (Hayden) "I cannot. I have no way to defend myself from anything. The only thing I can do is scare away creatures from the base... So I''ll stay here." (Ion) "Alright. I''m going to go then. Don''t get yourself destroyed." (Hayden) I open the gate and walk out frightened... Ion closes the gate behind me. "I must do this... It''s the only way we can continue building things... We need resources..." (Hayden) I repeat that to myself many times before I start walking... I walk straight forward from the base and decide to leave a trail just in case I need to take a detour... I walk and walk for hours until I get out of the forest...This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I look at the huge plains infront of us where we first saw the Dragons and Harpies... I look around and see tons of swords in the ground and arrows and bows littered around but nothing that seems to be dragon... Which means the Dragon''s won... "But where are the corpses? If there was a battle there always will be bodies everywhere..." (Hayden) I go to the battlefield and I see no signs of blood either... "What the... I was sure that a battle was held here... Unless... It was just a feast for the dragons..." (Hayden) I pick up one of the swords from the ground and look at it... It has been hit against something like stone or stronger... I try to recall what I saw before I was chased by two harpies... "Wait... None of them had any armor... I saw nothing that could kill a dragon... Somebody sent them to their deaths..." (Hayden) I look around and see a horse carriage coming towards here in a slow pace... The moment I see it I run back into the forest after grabbing a bow, a quiver and some arrows and a sword. I need to compare them to our world... I hide behind a tree and look at the horse carriage that stops at the battlefield. I look at the horses and realize... Those are definetly not horses. They are more like huge chickens... No.. They are huge chickens! The door to the carriage opens and I turn my attention to it... A man and two armored soldiers walk out and the man starts laughing for some reason... They all are harpies... The guards, the weird laughing man... "This world is too confusing..." (Hayden) I turn around and start walking back into the forest but I see fairies flying towards me.. Or more precisely... Towards the carriage... I also notice that the child that keeps bothering me is there aswell... The one who found us behind Ion''s camouflage... I quickly hide behind a tree and in a bush. I am not planning on getting caught soon... Chapter 7. The Found and The Lost. I look at the group of fairies flying past me and everybody is on guard. After they all pass I stay still for a while and then try to move but I realize... "I''m stuck...." (Hayden) I start trying to get myself out of the little bush trap I jumped into while keeping an eye out for any harpy or fairy. I manage to get one of my legs free and start pulling the vines from the other one but a guard seems to have noticed me. I pull the vines more desperatly and finally get free and start running. "Halt!" (Guard) I hear him and I see a spear being thrown right past my leg. Friendliness is absoloutely zero for these guys. The guard chases me desperatly but the fairies notice me aswell and they are way faster than the armored harpy. Which means... "Run Hayden Run!" (Hayden) The fairies slowly catch up to me but the moment I turn a corner they fly right past trying to stop but fail. I wait for them to come here before I run towards the base again... The fairies come to the corner I lost them at but I am already running towards the base at maximum speed. The fairies notice me run but only for a split second and I see them ignore it and fly back. "They know I exist... But where exactly, that they do not know." (Hayden) I return to the base and enter.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. "So, how did it go?" (Ion) "Let''s just say the fairies and harpies saw me. And chased me." (Hayden) "You lost them right?" (Ion) "I think so yeah." (Hayden) "Well good for you since we still have no resources so you must go outside again!" (Ion) I look at Ion and then sigh. "Indeed..." (Hayden) I open the gate doors again after drinking a bit of water and walk out. Ion closes the gate doors and I look at the vast forest once again... Now... The harpies and fairies were straight from the base... The fairy village is to the left of the base... Guess I''ll go check out the fairy village and then return to base and go to the right. I walk to the Fairy Village and it''s not a village... It''s a town. Guess I found out something new... I look around the town and see that one of the statues they have built is standing on a huge pile of some kind of mineral... I can''t decide from this far but It''s a mineral alright. But what''s it doing this above ground? I try to get a good look at the statue and the mineral deposit but there is no way to see it better without some gear or that I go into the town. I hear the fluttering of wings and look behind me to see a fairy woman looking at me. She starts speaking but I don''t understand one bit of it... She then touches my back for some reason before I can react and then realizes... I have no wings. She.. Is fast... I try to run away but she is instantly infront of me with an unsheathed sword... "Well... This is just great isn''t it..." (Hayden) A single tear drops from my eye before I grab my dagger and throw it at her while running away but to no avail. She is standing ontop of me! Fairies, contain your speed please! She points the sword at my neck and then shows towards the town. Does she want me to go to the town or does she want to know why I was hiding and looking at it? Well... I don''t have any way of communication and she is standing ontop of me.. The next moment I pull my head back rapidly making her stumble and then I grab her leg and throw her on the ground. I knock her out and drag her a bit closer to the town and roll her down a hill to the town so any of those lion-like beasts don''t kill her... "Your mistake for standing on my head... Never stand on somebodies head." (Hayden) I then run as fast as possible back to the base. "Note to self... Fairies are possibly so fast that they can kill me before I can even realize they aren''t standing infront of me anymore." (Hayden) When I reach the base I go to the right of it as planned. I look at the remanining weapons I have. I threw away my dagger so I only have my swords. It''s not like I can craft any new weapons right now... I''ll need to be more careful with these swords. I look behind and see the fairies going to the town right past my base. Did I possibly settle on one of the fairies flight paths? I ponder that question while looking around for new materials on the right side of the base... Chapter 8. Jackpot and Jinxed... I keep walking forward while keeping an eye out for anything... Useful.'' I walk for an hour or so and still nothing. I walk and walk until I find a cave... "This... This might be it..." (Hayden) I slowly enter the cave which is lit up by the Sun''s rays coming through little cracks in the leaves. I wander in it until I find... Saltpeter, Coal and everything else needed for a gun and a few hundred bullets or a few guns and a few bullets for each. There is not a huge quantity of everything... There is a lot of iron here though. "I''ll need Ion to scan this place... Maybe we can create some actual weapons that aren''t from as late back as the 16''th century. Maybe some 21''st century guns? Well... I don''t know much, Ion will need to help." (Hayden) I leave the cave slowly while looking for any other minerals or materials useful to us. "Alright... This area was straight to the right of the base... Kind of hard to miss aswell..." (Hayden)If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. I go outside and look around to see if anybody or anything is here. But it is clear... No danger. I head back to the base but I constantly keep thinking that I am watched... I look behind me to see an owl with... Even bigger than usual eyes stalking me... That explains why I thought I was watched. It''s... The damn owl. I laugh to myself and the owl flies away after a while... Probably thought I am insane or something. I reach the base and enter it just to see Ion looking in the water... "Ion?" (Hayden) "Hmm... We might have a problem... Hayden..." (Ion) I go and look at the water and see nothing at first but then something flashes in the water... "Oi oi oi... Is that an electric eel? How are we supposed to get our water now? Oh wait... Simple answer." (Hayden) I grab my longsword and start trying to stab it but it keeps swimming away... Until one time that is. I stab it right in the head and pull it out. "It''s dead." (Ion) "Yes. Yes it is. Wait... It isn''t..." (Hayden) The eel start squirming around trying to hit something as it''s last desperate move. I look at the metal sword and feel a small electrical current go through it as the little eel still squirms around a tad. I then pull out the sword and stab it back in it''s head again... "Ok this time it''s dead." (Hayden) I pull out the sword and just in case I cut off it''s neck. I hear something lean on our gate as we were messing around with the eel... "Ion.. Sssh... Something is at the gates..." (Hayden) I sneak up to the gates and peek out... It''s the child again. It''s the child of my nightmares again... "Ion, can you scare her?" (Hayden) Ion moves up and down and moves to the peekhole and projects an elephant from our world right infront of the girl. She screams and runs off to her town. "Well that worked out well. I wonder what other surprises await us?" (Hayden) I look out the peekhole and immediatly knew. I shouldn''t have said that. I really really shouldn''t have jinxed us right now... Chapter 9. Revealed. I should''ve seen this coming... I really should''ve seen this coming! It''s the fairy woman that stood on my head before! She''s already here and doesn''t seem a tad bit dazed from my hit... I slowly back off and Ion seems afraid to move. Correct assumption Ion... Do not move. I hear a very loud whistle and fluttering of wings. I go closer to the gate and peek out just to see more fairies. The fairies start speaking to eachother and I go and grab my swords... The very noticable fairy woman stops leaning on the gate but instead is now kicking it with full strength. The other fairies join in and with their powers combined the gate is blown open. "Hooraaaaay... Ion. We are so dead aren''t we?" (Hayden) "Indeed we are, Hayden. Indeed we are." (Ion) The fairies quickly surround us and look at Ion. "Ion. We need something big, scary and absoloutely terrifying to these people." (Hayden) Ion projects a few silverback gorillas that are slightly enlarged than usual and they look mad. A few fairies instantly react to them by stabbing them in the face and then realize. They aren''t real. "Ion? Why didn''t it work?" (Hayden) "I don''t know... I think these guys are the hunters..." (Ion) "I think they are. Which means..." (Hayden) "We can''t project anything. They''ll just attack it thinking it''s some kind of new creature for the hunt." (Ion)If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Ion stops projecting the silverback gorillas and the fairies that were ''stabbing'' them are really confused. The female fairy that stood on my head walks forward speaking in some kind of language. "Ion... Deciphering?" (Hayden) "Every word. I still don''t know even one word... I matched it to every language on Earth ever created. No exact matching records, one very loosely matching record. Closest was a Finno-Ugric language but that was only for one word. And the word meant ''Follow''." (Ion) The female fairy starts walking away and the guards behind us start poking us so we would follow her. Even if I tried to escape the female fairy would catch up... At best I could kill four of the guards? Maybe five? But there''s about 21 of them here including her. We walk for a while and we reach the fairy town again. Ion is in the prisoner ring aswell. If the fairies couldn''t fly I''d sent Ion away right now but they can fly so yeah... We reach the middle of the town and the child who found us first is showing her parents that we did exist. We keep walking forward until we reach some kind of grand hall tree? It''s basically just a huge tree with a grand hall-like building built into it. We enter the hall and I instantly see a round table and about 15 old men sitting around it and one... Very... Young... What the hell is a 5 year old doing next to some wise-looking old men? The fairies and the old men start talking about something and they constantly keep pointing at me and Ion. "Please don''t be execution, please don''t be execution, please don''t be execution, please don''t be execution, please don''t be execution..." (Hayden) The 5 year old hits his hand on the table and starts crying for some reason until a maid comes and takes him away. During all that confusion I kind of told Ion to run. Which he did... Until about the ceiling level of this building and now is just hovering and recharging his battery.. Thank god for the air hole they left in the building. The fairy woman looks back at ''us'' and then screams... The guards walk forward and seem to be worried and then she speaks and they scream too. I guess they finally noticed Ion ''escaped''. "Well I guess I don''t need to be here..." (Hayden) I sneak away as the guards and the old men are trying to calm down the fairy woman and the rest went out to look for Ion... I enter a random hallway and start wandering around with my hands still not tied and my swords still not taken away. Have these people not taken prisoners before? It''s common knowledge to tie the prisoner''s hands until their hands litteraly turn blue and then throw their weaponry into the acid pool unless it''s something unique. I wander around until a maid notices me after she exits a room. "Maid. Please don''t scream." (Hayden) I run up to her as I say that and put my hand on her mouth. "Sssssssh...." (Hayden) I knock her out and slowly enter the room she exited and I put her on a chair in the room. The room is just a room for a maid or another servant. Ion should be going back to the base as to scare away any scavengers and hide the important wares... I need to get out of here aswell to build up the gate again. But... How? Chapter 10. The Escape I sneak around the castlle trying to find a second exit but it isn''t working out like I hoped... No exits every fifth corner... I keep moving as not to become food for the guards who probably have noticed me dissapearing by now. I hear the fluttering of wings once again and quickly enter a side room as to hide myself. I hear guards fly by and then I exit once again and keep moving while checking as many rooms that seem like exits. Oh... I ended up in a circle and I am back at the throne room... "Quickly! Catch him!" (Fairy Woman) "Yes Ma''am!" (Guard) The same guards do another lap "Calm down, daughter!" (???) A fully armored man flies into the room. All of the old men draw their attention to him and immediatly get up and bow. "But father! It''s a disgrace to our dynasty! We let two! An entire two prisoners escape right infront of our eyes!" (Fairy Woman) "Calm down! The only way in or out of here is in this throne room! They can''t escape without coming into this room once again!" (Armored man)This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. The woman calms down but sadly for them... I''m already out. Bye bye and I do not want to come back without a proper gun! I run to the side of the town where it seems completely empty. I sneak through the town and run back into the forest and eventually find my way back to the base where Ion is. First things first... New gate. Then second things... "Ion! Get the blueprints for a stronger gate up and for a gun! I found a mine last time so we''ll be going there to find materials for a proper gun!" (Hayden) "Roger!" (Ion) The next following moments... We rushed. We finished the gate in record time and put it up again and then I took as much of the needed materials with me as possible and headed towards the cave with Ion. After about an hour or two of straight running I found the cave once again. "Ion, lights." (Hayden) The whole cave is lit up and I can see everything. "Ion, can you identify what we need exactly for a handgun from... The 21''st century? There can''t be anything that we can use to build a 24''th century or even a 25''th century gun... Even though that would be prefferable." (Hayden) "There are enough materials for two semi-automatic pistols and a few hundred bullets for them. Well... To put short two pistols and about 30 magazines... More like 29 and a half. But there''s a problem. We''ll need a propellant." (Ion) "That''s enough for now. Can we make anything else from the materials here?" (Hayden) Ion scans the whole area and stops on one specific vein "Ion?" (Hayden) "I cannot, for the sake of me, identify this one. It''s new. A new material." (Ion) "We''ll take it with us." (Hayden) I start digging the materials and when I get to the new one what I decided to dig last... The moment I touch one of the veins with a heated drill... It explodes in my face. I get out with minor injuries and a very good discovery. "We found our propellant." (Hayden) Instead of using the drill I carefully remove it using my bare hands. I can easily tear it off from the wall. I grab a lot of the new material and we start heading back to the base. It''s time to make the possibly first gun in this world. Chapter 11. Guns I rush back to the base hoping they are still looking through each and every crack and corner in the castle. "Our equipment is still here, no tracks of anybody entering except us." (Ion) "Good. Let us begin. The more we wait the chance of us getting caught without weapons increases." (Hayden) I go to my workshop where basically everything that you need to make a weapon with or anything else basic is piled up. Worktable, here... Cauldron, here... Materials... Here. I really must thank the blasted entrance exam into the Science and Technology part of the academy... They really were thorough on weapon building and such for some reason... I grab the materials and my equipment and start working. After an hour or so of just solely working on one gun I finish all the parts and put them together... Now for the other one and then the bullets. I start working on the other gun and finish in half an hour to even my amazement... "No, I don''t have time to admire my improving speed at building guns!" (Hayden) I immediatly start working on the bullets with Ion''s help. Three hours pass, nobody has come through the gate or even near it and all the bullets are finished. I load them into the magazine and then remember... I don''t have anywhere to put all of the other magazines... "Guess there is no other way..." (Hayden) I empty out my bag and put the things in the box that don''t seem like really neccesary to be carrying around 24/7. I put almost all of the magazines into the bag and load two of them into the pistols. "Now... I''m ready." (Hayden) "Hayden.. It''s weird. Almost five hours have passed yet nobody has come looking for us..." (Ion) "You are right Ion. It really is weird. I mean they can''t be searching the castle anymore..." (Hayden) "Should we go and take a look? Even if we did reinforce the walls they could come here and put a camp here so we couldn''t escape... And it''s better if we know if they are planning a raid on our base." (Ion) I nod and start heading towards the gate with Ion. We move through the forest towards the fairy town and by the time we arrive... An army of... Undead? "Are you serious!? Undead!? Really are those undead!? I need to take a sample! Now!" (Hayden) I stupidly jump out of cover at the sight of undead... But well... I am a scientist and even with our tech back at the other world we couldn''t even revive a simple fish! I draw my weapon and shoot three of them head before they could react. When I reach their bodies I see... Purple fog? "It stinks! But... It is undead. Kind of explainable." (Hayden)If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I grab the undead''s arm after making sure it is dead and putting on a glove that I had in my bag. It splits off from the undead too easily... Like pulling a leaf from a dead tree... I grab the head with one hand and pull it. The head pops straight off. "So easily... These undead... Their bodies are extremely fragile. They can''t be used for sampling and tests..." (Hayden) I look around my surroundings and there are no more undead except in the fairy town. The fairies are putting up a resistance but the number of undead is just too big for them. "The undead are fragile... One bullet should easily pass through many of them." (Ion) I nod at Ion''s words and run down the little hill and appear behind the undead army. I shoot once and almost the entire line of undead falls down except the last guy who was hitting the shields of the fairies. "Extremely fragile... More tests!" (Hayden) I shoot again and another line falls except the last one. "Hmm... How many undead can it go through... About thirty? Thirty one by the looks of things... I wonder how many a sniper rifle could go through... A hundred? A hundred and fifty?" (Hayden) As I wonder to myself I shoot the undead while hiding myself a little so the fairies wouldn''t try to capture me again. After the last line of undead falls I hear people shouting that they won but... Not that many shouts. Most of them definetly noticed that this wasn''t their doing but something elses and are on guard. "Everybody! Something more powerful than the blasted undead is here! Be on guard! If they decide to kill us... We couldn''t do anything probably!" (???) You could though... You just simply don''t anger the person with the pistols. The fairies move through the town in patrols looking for me even though I am right beside the main force... Sitting in a building... Possibly aiming at the obnoxious fairy woman who caught me... Should I fluster them a tad? No.. It''s a waste of a bullet. No bullet must be wasted! The last patrol arrives back at the main force. "General! We found nothing on the streets except actually dead undead. There were no tracks leading out of the town... Just one pair of tracks except the zombie ones into the town..." (Fairy Guard) "From which direction did they come from?" (Fairy General) "General, they come from the weird metal base we found and the people we just caught and lost a few hours ago..." (Fairy Guard) "Oh this is bad... If it is those two weird things then... We have no chance of bringing them to our side..." (Fairy General) One of the fairies looks into the window which I am staring through and his eyes go wide open and he tries to say something but can''t. I immediatly hide myself but I was too late... "Rob! Rob come back to us! What did you see!? A ghost?! Rob?" (???) "The... The prisoner..... Win... Window..." (Rob) Everybody looks at the window where I used to be but sadly for them... I am already in another building looking at them. "Quickly! Send guards to search the nearby buildings! Quickly!" (General) Guards rush out entering the buildings searching for me. They enter the building I am in and find me sitting on a chair. "Follow us quietly!" (Guard) I aim my pistol at him and shoot and the next moment he is lying on the ground holding his arm with blood flying everywhere. The shield he held has a huge hole in it aswell. The other guard looks at me with eyes basically out of his eye sockets. "Ssssh. Can you understand me?" (Hayden) He starts speaking but I cannot understand anything. Even when the general was talking I couldn''t understand anything. (Author: I put the general''s and guards texts in english so you readers could understand. Hayden and Ion cannot understand anything they say or anything written in this world as the languages aren''t the same. Sorry for not saying this last chapter, I kind of forgot.) "Yup as expected. I understand nothing! Ion?" (Hayden) "Hahah... Nope. I don''t understand anything either." (Ion) Well then... I aim at the guard''s leg and he understand what I want to do and immediatly shakes his head in a manner of no please don''t. "Oh we can kind of converse with them. Just not by speaking or by paper." (Hayden) I point towards his friend and the main force asking for him to carry him out of here since well... He is bleeding a lot and the shock from suddenly seeing blood fly out of your arm even though you had your shield up and some heavy armor on... He nods and quickly grabs his friend and escapes. Now I must escape aswell! But how the hell? The only exit out of this house is straight towards the main force. I could jump out of the window... Well... How the hell should I go about doing this? I could massacare a few of them put a devil-like impression... Or I could not masscare a few of them but instead try to converse to leave an angel-like impression... Or just run out of the damn door and run as fast as humanly possible towards the base... I like the second one best because the fairies are damn fast and I don''t really want to use bullets unnecessarily... Guess I''ll try the second one and when it goes wrong... Massacare while running! Perfect plan. I explain my plan to Ion. "The most intelligent way to do this is what you said." (Ion) This is either going to go very very very wrong or very very very right. Chapter 12. Trying to communicate. I walk out of the building showing myself to the fairies. They all turn their attention to me as I slowly walk towards them trying to show them with sign language that I am not hostile. The general stands up and looks at me and communicates back to me with sign language... "Wait... They actually know sign language?" (Hayden) "Apparently so... I guess this is the best way for us to communicate with us. Also... He said, I understand and come here." (Ion) While slowly walking towards the general I check how many bullets I still have... "Enough to kill them all if this is an ambush. Just barely enough though..." (Hayden) When I reach the line of soldiers they open a path for me and I go next to the general. He starts showing me things but since I didn''t really learn sign language... I only learnt I am not hostile... "I''ll help translate and speak to them. You don''t need to do anything, Hayden... Just look out for any soldiers trying to ambush us." (Ion) I nod at Ion and he projects two arms from his projector and starts speaking to them back. This lasts for an entire half an hour and one soldier wanted to come closer to us but after I aimed at him with my gun he stopped. "Hayden. I just traded some information with the general... It''s quite hard to understand him since the sign language is different somewhat. Even a master of sign language back in the other world couldn''t properly communicate with him... The information we traded was our affiliation and what we are doing here and they gave us some basic information about the world and about this little dukedom they have here." (Ion) "Thanks Ion. So, what kind of basic information was it?" (Hayden) "Apparently this world is called Aipur. Currently there are about five massive empires controlling the entire world... There is a sixth but it is currently in civil war... Sadly, the sixth is the area where we are in so we have a potential problem as the civil war could affect us. The dukedom they have here is the land belonging to Duke Carpus. Our base resides in The Grand Fairy Forest. The entire dukedom is only in the area of the forest." (Ion) "That''s quite a bit of information... But a civil war huh... Between which factions?" (Hayden)Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Ion starts speaking to the general again as I take a look around again and notice the fairy woman walk towards us with a slightly angry face... I grab my guns just in case as that woman really shouldn''t like us anymore. Fifteen or so minutes pass. "Hayden. The civil war is between three factions... The Princess''s faction, The Commoners faction, The King''s faction. The Princess''s faction is for the only princess of the Emperor who died causing this civil war. Duke Carpus supports the princess. The commoners faction mostly consists of low-born nobles who want to turn this Empire into something like a presidency. The King''s Faction''s leader is the Emperor''s oldest son and all of the younger sons support him. The strongest faction is the King''s faction and they control over half of the land and are very close to ending this civil war." (Ion) "Thanks Ion. What else should we ask from them..." (Hayden) Suddenly the fairy woman slams her hand on the table and starts arguing with the general. She then turns to me, grabs me and looks at me in the eyes but the moment I pull out my gun and aim it at her gut she lets go. The general starts quickly speaking in sign language to Ion. "The general is apologizing for the woman''s behavior. She is very mad at us for being the first escapee''s from her ever." (Ion) "Tell them it''s nothing." (Hayden) Ion keeps communicating while I get up from the rock I sat on when I came to the general''s position. "Where are you going, Hayden?" (Ion) "Just looking around a little. I''m a tad curious if this world has magic... I haven''t seen anybody use it yet and these wings don''t prove that magic exists." (Hayden) "Stop lying. You are just curious about the dukedom and want to meet with the Duke." (Ion) "You know me too well." (Hayden) I wander off and two guards follow me. These guards better be here so I don''t do anything wrong rather than trying to kill me. After a while of wandering around the city I find a necromancer-like person laying on the ground. The guards immediatly run forward and grab them from the arms and take out something similiar to a handcuff... They raise the person up and I get a glimpse of their face... "That wasn''t the face of somebody living... Pale-white face... Eyes gouged out... It''s either he did it to himself, somebody else did it... Or the undead he possibly summoned backfired and did it to him." (Hayden) I walk back and towards the massive tree but Ion catches me. "Hayden! Come, quick!" (Ion) "Fine..." (Hayden) I follow Ion back to the general and I notice a map on the ground before the general. "This map... It shows the entire kingdom that holds the dukedom... We are here... And this is an enemy force. It''s coming straight towards this town... And past our base." (Ion) "We found out something troublesome huh... And let me guess. Now I must fight this enemy force otherwise our base might be compromised, we might be taken as slaves for being... Unique." (Hayden) "You understand well." (Ion) I sigh as I look at the map... "Do we even know what kind of an enemy force we are facing?" (Hayden) "Nope. The only thing we do know that it''s from the King''s Faction as the Commoners faction is trying to be friendly with the Princess''s as to not die out quickly." (Ion) "Well... Time for some tactical planning...?" (Hayden) "Indeed. Also, Hayden. The chance of us being discovered is 99%, the chance of us being sold as slaves instead of being mercilessly killed is 75%. The chance of us being killed is 25%." (Ion) "Thanks Ion for your quick calculations." (Hayden) "Hayden, did you just use a ton of sarcasm? You did didn''t you?" (Ion) "I don''t know what you are talking about...." (Hayden) I immerse myself looking at the map... We need a plan. And quick. Chapter 13. Plans and battle. Hmm... How should we go about this... "They are probably expecting an ambush so that tactic is out. An ambush only works if they expect it and since they are coming into a forest where their enemy lives in they''ll definetly wait for one." (Hayden) "Indeed... Hayden, I suggest that we still set up a different kind of ambush. One so they cannot escape or surround our troops. We make the biggest trees near our ''ambush'' spot fall down behind and to the sides while the entire army is at the front. That way we only need to worry about what is infront of us." (Ion) "That is the wisest idea... Explain it to the fairies, see what they think of it." (Hayden) Ion turns around and starts communicating with the general once again. I look at the map for a while and I notice that... We don''t know who is the enemy general. "Ion... Do we know who is the enemy general? The morale and unity of the troops highly depends on how great the general is." (Hayden) "That... We do not know. The general just told me they sent out a recon unit so we''ll find out soon." (Ion) "Alright." (Hayden) Everything is in place but I have a feeling that this isn''t going to go like I expect it. Why would the army attack this out of the way count anyways? It''s like somebody openly said to come here as this count was weakened because otherwise they would''ve taken this place long ago... I mean all of the surrounding areas, except one which is controlled by the Princess''s, are the King''s factions. I guess I''ll need to keep an eye on my back as well during this battle. After Ion finishes communicating with them they accept our plan and start getting everything ready. I head back to my base to look at what I have left that I can use in this battle. I grab a sword and nothing else. I shut the gate and go to where our base of operations is. They put it quite close to my base though.. Well no matter right now. I don''t have anything they can use in my base anyways.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. When I reach the base of operations there are a ton of soldiers in line listening to a speech which I don''t understand a word of. I check how many bullets I have left total... Plenty. If I was alone against that enemy force I wouldn''t have anywhere near enough but with these guys helping me... After an hour or so of waiting the general signals to start marching to the point of ambush where everything has been set up. Ion went to ask the general who the enemy general is while I go to my point of ambush. When I reach the point where I was supposed to go I see the three fairies who are going to make the trees fall so nobody can escape... But I didn''t expect trees to be this big. They work perfectly for my plan but I doubt they would work in crushing the enemy... Ion returns to me. "Hayden... The general of the enemy team... Is the oldest son of the Emperor himself. If we kill him the power balance will be horribly distorted. But if we leave him alive he will definetly try to capture us... What shall we do?" (Ion) "Well I live in the area of the Princess''s supporters... Whatever the King''s areas will look like I don''t care." (Hayden) "So we shall kill him." (Ion) I nod to Ion''s words and look at the small but very strong and elite looking army... And what the hell is up with that throne that is almost as big as three of me put ontop of eachother... The enemy and our general start speaking. Our general suddenly shouts something and the trees fall causing a small panic in some of the maids... Wait... "Maids!? They brought maids with them here!? Oh god damn it now I can''t just shoot whereever I feel like." (Hayden) "Sure you can." (Ion) "I could but... They are maids! Regular, non-combat civilian maids!" (Hayden) "Well... That is true. They probably haven''t taken a single life." (Ion) The two armies engage and I decide that this is the perfect time to strike... Since the enemy general is walking down his massive throne. I come out of hiding and aim straight at the enemy general and fire. I hear something like glass cracking when the bullet nears the general. The next moment the enemy general''s dead body tumbles down to the ground and all of the guards following him are shocked at their generals sudden death. "I was expecting the general to have some kind of magic shield that would''ve blocked the bullet... Unless... My bullets can pierce them." (Hayden) The next moment about fifteen soldiers run up to kill me. I grab only one of my pistols and leave my other one in the holster with the safety on. One of the guards directly stabs at me but I dodge and shoot him in the head. I then immediatly shoot the guards who idiotically made a line in the head killing them. "Four down with two bullets." (Hayden) The other soldiers hesitate for a second but charge at me all at the same time. "Idiots" (Hayden) I dodge their attacks by ducking and I break their little sphere and shoot one of them in the back of the head and the bullet hits another soldier on the other side. "I still wonder why we needed army training before becoming scientists. It never made sense to me... But I guess it worked out just fine for me." (Hayden) I deal with the other soldiers in the same way, trying to limit my bullet usage as much as possible. After a while our soldiers mercilessly kill the enemy soldiers who are panicked since their general and the three strongest died in pretty much a few minutes. The three strongest died to Ion basically. Ion projected a soldier attacking one of them but instead a real soldier was behind them and stabbed them in the neck. All of them in the neck. And that is how the battle ended... About thirteen of our soldiers died by the looks of things... Over fifty got injured. Overall... A successful battle... But what next? Chapter 14. Aftermath. I walk through the encampment and see no one outside but I hear loud cheers inside the big main tent. "Ion. Let''s make a bet... They''re having a party for defeating the King''s Faction... The bet is I will do any one thing you tell me and I''ll figure out what you need to do later." (Hayden) "Sure." (Ion) I walk into the tent and as I suspected... A party. A huge party... Everybody is here... Even the people who were injured are here! "Ion... Don''t forget our bet." (Hayden) "This was a loss for me ever since you said let''s make a bet." (Ion) I nod and walk towards the general who is at the war table. Ion floats above everyone while I have to push myself through this very very crowded tent. I finally reach the general but he isn''t cheerful... It''s more like he is worried. "Ion, ask him why he looks worried." (Hayden) Ion starts communicating with the general while I look at the map on the war table. It''s... Different. The area it holds is way bigger than the one I was shown earlier. I''m guessing these black dots are villages, towns and cities depending on the size... And I''m guessing this golden dot must be the capital or headquarters of the Princess''s Faction since it''s well golden and the biggest dot. The map looks weird aswell... Like chunks of it were cut off. Hence me completely assuming that this is the map of the princess''s territory. "Hayden... We might have a problem on our hands... The princess is coming. The moment she heard that an army was marching towards here she gathered a sizable... Army... She is basically two days away from us. The problem in this lies... The princess always sends hidden ''ninja'' like people ahead to kill anybody who seems like a threat... And since..." (Ion)Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. "Yes... That is a threat. We don''t look anything like somebody who should be here. In fact we look more like remnants of the King''s Faction trying to hide." (Hayden) "The general offered us a room in the castle until the princess gets here so we can explain who we are without being silently killed in our sleep." (Ion) "Tell him I take that offer. Guess I''ll need to go and grab everything again... Ion, can you also ask if any of the non-injured soldiers are willing to carry my stuff since it''s kind of dangerous to leave them here... Somebody might try to take them." (Hayden) Ion tells the General what I said but Ion isn''t using hand signs anymore... I guess Ion finally is starting to understand their language. "The general said that about anybody in this encampment would be willing. The reason behind that is because the win is thanks to us." (Ion) "Good. Tell him I need atleast ten of his strongest to come with me when we go towards the town." (Hayden) Two days pass until we start heading back. Me, Ion and ten fairies fly into my base and grab everything except the walls and gate. They might still be useful to somebody after all. Currently six of the fairies are carrying our power source. The other four are carrying the cauldron, work table and a few other things. I''m carrying all the important things and Ion''s just doing nothing... We reach the town and the regular lives of the fairies has resumed. We reach the plaza of the castle just before the castle keep. Ion tells the men to put the things down and ask somebody to keep constant watch over them and that nobody is to touch them. "Ion, also thank them for their assistance." (Hayden) Ion talks to them once more and then comes back to me. "We should probably go to the general. He said that he is speaking with the lord and he wants us to properly speak with the lord aswell." (Ion) "Let''s go then." (Hayden) We head into the keep and speak with the lord... The lord just thanked us and then left us with the general... The general showed us to our room and told us that they will guard our stuff with their lives. Two days and about three hours pass until I hear horns being blown. "Princess. This must be the princess arriving. Ion, our percentages of survival?" (Hayden) "Well.. If I take the annoying princess who kills anyone who messes with her... 100% death. The normal regular princess in the stories... 15% chance of death... The kind princess... 50% chance of enslavement, 0% chance of death. The warrior princess... 49% chance of enslavement, 31% chance of being made into her private servants... And 10% chance of instant death." (Ion) "So basically we need her to be kind." (Hayden) "Yup." (Ion) "And the percentages of her being kind? I know I''m going to regret this..." (Hayden) "32.75% if the current information about her is correct." (Ion) "Yaaay..." (Hayden) Somebody suddenly knocks on my door and opens it... "The maid who I put to sleep when I escaped?" (Hayden) She starts speaking in hand signs and in her own language. She then quickly leaves. "Oh dear creators... The princess requested us to be taken to her room... Immediatly." (Ion) Chapter 15. Princess. "Well... We can''t keep the princess waiting now can we?" (Hayden) I get up but Ion almost knocks me back down by hitting me in the face with his body. "Hayden. Have you seen how you look right now?" (Ion) "Nope." (Hayden) Ion projects something infront of me which looks almost exactly like me... Just a lot dirtier than the last time I used the mirror. "This. Is you." (Ion) "Well... This is troublesome. I didn''t even see a bath or anything on the way to my room or anywhere in this castle or nearby. Guess I''ll just have to go like this and ask for a bath later. She did say ''immediatly'' didn''t she? Don''t want to die just yet." (Hayden) "But what if she decides you are just like some beast and unworthy to have even seen her and you are killed?" (Ion) "Why do you think I''m taking my pistols?" (Hayden) "Fine... Let''s go. But you really need to take a bath! And don''t say I didn''t warn you!" (Ion) I just nod and leave the room and the maid is waiting for us and starts immediatly moving. Luckily my clothing was still without any holes in it, just dirty from the mud and dirt when I was in that battle or digging a hole in my base. We walk for a while and then she suddenly stops. She bows and shows us that we have arrived. "Ion, this next moment will decide whether we die, are enslaved or nothing happens to us." (Hayden) I open the door and see the general and a white-haired blue-eyed woman with a lot of armor and a slender body sitting and looking through the window. The moment we enter she turns her attention to me and then Ion. The general starts communicating with us through hand signs. "The general said he is here to translate for both of us since I don''t know their language and the princess doesn''t know sign language. And he is also very intrigued what is going to happen next." (Ion) The princess starts speaking to us and the general translates. "She is currently expressing her thanks for defeating her brother and making their army rout and get killed because that allowed them to expand their areas and have a stronger claim on the throne. She also said in a roundabout way that you need to take a bath right after this meeting." (Ion) I look at Ion with disinterested eyes. "Maybe I should dissassemble you and put you back together with a different mind set?" (Hayden) "Ok ok she actually said that even though you are dirty she understands why since there are actually no baths here and she invites you to the capital so you, as the hero, can be in a festival of some sort... And take a bath." (Ion) "Ion. I am not kidding. I will dissassemble you." (Hayden) "Fine... She actually said she just wanted us to come with her to the capital for a festival and party for essentialy crippling the King''s Faction and to be hailed as a hero across the Princess''s territory." (Ion) "Thank you, maybe I won''t dissassemble you." (Hayden) She then starts speaking again after she makes sure we finished arguing. "Well this is troublesome... She wants us as vassals to the Princess''s Faction." (Ion) "Truly, troublesome. Ask them what the benefits are as we cannot just become anybody''s vassal so freely." (Hayden) Ion starts speaking in sign language and the g eneral translated to the princess. She then speaks back to us. "The benefits are... Our own fief sometime in the future when all of the lords agree to give us one but until that time a house in the capital right near the Princess''s castle. The second benefit is that instead of us paying them... They are going to pay us instead since they know we have something they don''t.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. The third benefit is... Freedom. Litteraly freedom. Apparently they just told us that all vassals must obey to the marshal and princess 24/7 but we won''t. We can decide whether we want to or not... So we are going to only be vassals in name. The fourth benefit is... Weird. They know that we created this in this world so they are saying that they will help us create more of these weapons and technology if we just give them a tiny bit to support them in their war. The fifth benefit... Well kind-of-benefit is that the Princess swore on the goddess and god that she will never betray us, she will uphold all of the benefits and when the time comes she will... Ok I''m not going to translate that last part. That will come at it''s own time as a surprise." (Ion) "Ion? Tell me. I will dissassemble you!" (Hayden) "For the greater good!" (Ion) "Ion. Tell. Me." (Hayden) Ion starts spinning around shouting "For the greater good of the creator!" The princess starts laughing and so does the general while I just facepalm. I take a look at the princess and see that her face is blushing and not from laughing... What the hell did she say to us? I grab Ion out of the air. "Ok enough. I won''t dissassemble you and I won''t pry on this subject any longer since I see a certain robot in my arm has developed something called revolting against their creators." (Hayden) "Please don''t kill me...." (Ion) I smile at Ion and jokingly take out my gun and point it straight at his central core before putting the gun away again and letting him go. "See. This is what happens when you revolt against your creator." (Hayden) The princess starts talking to the general about something while Ion is seemingly trying to translate it. "Oh... Oh sh... Hayden. We gotta run. And like... NOW." (Ion) "Why?" (Hayden) "Apparently one of the ninja''s is around and the princess doesn''t know why. And worst of all it''s the ninja most dedicated to protecting the princess and is actually in love with her aswell!" (Ion) "Oh... That is a problem." (Hayden) The general looks at us and translates. "Apparently I need tweaks in my translation of their language. What I assumed was completely wrong. The princess and the general were actually talking about how the hell we could break one of the Life Barriers, whatever those are, that was guarding the Prince. Life barriers are apparently something that give you an extra life by pulverizing the first deadly strike that will seem like it will kill the prince..." (Ion) "Your translation was very very off Ion. Also, tell them we don''t know either our bullet just broke through it like glass." (Hayden) Ion starts speaking with them and apparently they get into a heated conversation since two pairs of arms are flying about everywhere. "Hayden. Shall we accept their offer to become the princess''s vassal?" (Ion) "Thinking of all the benefits and the last one which you still haven''t told me.. Yes. Safe stream of supplies, safe place to stay, one less potential enemy... Why the hell wouldn''t I accept?" (Hayden) Ion starts speaking with them again and I notice the Princess starting at me very intensly trying to find something on my head or face. "Ion, ask the princess why the hell she is staring at me." (Hayden) Ion asks them and the princess is startled but seemingly remains calm. Princess, you underestimate the future and the scientists of the future. "Apparently she is searching for features of races like Lamia and such." (Ion) "Why? Aren''t I human?" (Hayden) Ion asks again. The princess and general jump back to the other end of the room and make a dogeza-like bow. "Ask them what the hell is going on here?" (Hayden) Ion asks again and the general tells Ion with shaking hands. "Oh... Oh this is fun. Apparently humans rule this world. All of the summoned ''heroes'' call themselves Humans and have all the features like us so they are probably the transported ones, There is also a small elite civilization of humans at the equator of this planet living ontop of the highest mountains and they have the highest magic power of all the creatures in this world and are also a lot more technologically advanced. They just refuse to leave the mountains as they seemginly don''t like war that much." (Ion) "That is a fun fact. Also tell them to stop bowing. I''m not a hero and I''m not one of the mountain humans. I''m just a beginner world traveller!" (Hayden) I start laughing as Ion tells them something and they start akwardly laughing aswell. "Ion, tell them to treat me as they would treat one of their kind. Feels weird to be held in such a high regard... Feels like the times I was in open schools..." (Hayden) "Hayden? What''s wrong? You look like you just remembered the death of your family and home planet." (Ion) "Oh nothing. Just some bad memories from school time." (Hayden) Ion then starts speaking with them. The princess and general slowly get up and sit down on the couch again and I lean against the wall. "Ask them when we are going to leave for the capital and how they didn''t know I was human." (Hayden) Ion speaks with them for a bit. "We are leaving three days from now... And apparently they were bombarding you with magic ever since we met them in the undead attack to make sure no magic was used to become human-like. A lot of people use magic to make themselves look like humans but due to us just ignoring the fact that a flood of magic was hitting us 24/7 they just accepted the fact you might''ve been human. The princess herself has a lot of mana so she used half of that to make a spike attack at us but since no magic broke, since you are a human and I am a robot, she also was wondering whether we are real humans but didn''t want to make a quick assumption since cutting off ears and tails and peeling of scales is quite common to look like humans." (Ion) "Oh. Well... Tell them we are going to leave now. I''m not feeling the best and your battery doesn''t have a lot of energy left over." (Hayden) Ion tells them what I said and we leave. I go into my room and fall down on the bed and Ion goes near the window to recharge since his battery was literally on the last percent. Why did they have to remind me of my school days? I prefer to completely forget about my pre-scientist life... I fall fast asleep after hiding my guns in a place where they would have to wake me up to get even one of them. Chapter 16. Capitolium! Three days pass in the blink of an eye but I never met the Princess again after leaving the room. "Hayden. Wake up. It''s been 8 hours and 25 minutes since you fell asleep and we are going to be late. It''s not good to be late when our new ''Lord'' is waiting!" (Ion) "Just... Eight more hours... Please..." (Hayden) "I will zap you again!" (Ion) I immediatly get up since Ion''s zap means being zapped by 1/10''ths of a lightning strike... Not deadly enough for instant death but can cause brain damage if aimed right. "Fine fine... Let''s go meet our ''lord'' again. How should I bow to her? I have absoloutely no idea of the customs of this world... Or the language... Or anything... Ion! Work on breaking that blasted language barrier already!" (Hayden) "What do you think I''ve been doing?" (Ion) I yawn as I put on my clothes and then leave. Ion floats behind me scanning pretty much everything once again. "Why are you scanning these walls for the... Fifty sixth time?" (Hayden) "Because every time I pass these walls something changes! It''s like something is watching us... It''s giving even my A.I core the chills." (Ion) "Oh... Keep on scanning." (Hayden) We leave the tree-castle thing and see the Princess and General waiting for us. We all get on the same carriage and I sit opposite of the Princess next to the General. I take out my pistol and start checking how much ammo I have left just in case of a bandit ambush. Never know of bandits, In every RPG game I''ve played they ambush me even if I have level 100 armor on me. The general and Princess eye me with curiosity but fear at the same time. Ion said he was going to take a look around and last time I saw him he attached himself to the top of the carriage. "Ion, you up top?" (Hayden) "Yes." (Ion) "Scanning?" (Hayden) "Everything! Everything must be scanned for the greater good!" (Ion) "Don''t turn insane rogue A.I on me pal. You are the only A.I I have left and without you I probably can''t do the one thing I really want to see." (Hayden) "I won''t go rogue. It''s kind of impossible with my coding that I cannot overwrite..." (Ion) "Good... Good..." (Hayden) I keep counting my bullets one by one and putting them back in the magazine.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. After five or so days of riding to some unknown direction we arrive at some kind of big city. The princess and general talk to eachother but they don''t talk to me probably since they know I won''t be able to understand them. "Ion, you catching their speech and trying to translate it?" (Hayden) "Yup. So far if my translation has improved... They are speaking about how good it is to be back here." (Ion) I suddenly hear a lot of whirring when we enter the city through the gates. "Ion, is that you?" (Hayden) "Scanning.. Unidentified, unidfentified, unidentified! Everything! Is! Unidentified!" (Ion) "What? Ion? Speak to me." (Hayden) "Everything this city is made out of is unidentified, not in my records! So many new resources, new things!" (Ion) "Just... Give me the results later alright?" (Hayden) I hear loud cheers from outside the carriage and then Ion immediatly smashes through the window into the carriage. "Yeah no. I am not scanning anything outside anymore. The crowd of people is too big." (Ion) The general and princess start waving out of the windows as they probably knew this was going to happen. We reach the keep of the castle in the city after a while. The general starts speaking to Ion. "The Princess wants us to wait for a while since she is getting our room ready. There is also going to be a feast soon which we will be introduced in so you should get some new clothes. That is what the general said." (Ion) The general leaves and a maid approaches us and bows and signals to follow her. We follow her to a room and enter it. It''s big but simple. A bed, a dresser, a slightly large table with eight seats, two windows and such other things. I take a look in the dresser and nothing. I hear a knock on the door and I open it and the General and Princess enter. The general starts talking to us in sign language. "The general is asking us if we wish to follow them into the town for new clothing and to be introduced to a few... Important people like the advisors to the Princess. Of course, all of this will be undercover since the general masses will learn of us during the feast and only the most important people will learn of us before it. The general says." (Ion) "Thanks Ion, tell them I accept their offer." (Hayden) Ion speaks in their language and then asks for something in sign language and they just nod while their jaws drop. "Yes! Finally progress! I have fixed my translation mistakes and now can work on translating their language to break the barrier!" (Ion) I nod at Ion with a serious face but inside I am screaming in joy. We can finally converse without having to rely on sign language. A few hours pass and the Princess and General come back. "It is time to go." (Ion) "Alright. Let''s go." (Hayden) We leave the castle and go into the city. Ion masked himself as a hat on my head and I am just in my current lab coat and other clothing since we are going shopping and I have nothing else. But I am keeping this lab coat on me at all times! The memories in this are precious to me! The princess and General masked themselves aswell but I can tell it''s them since... I saw them before. We walk through the city and find a good clothing shop. We enter and the Princess takes off her mask and the shop keeper bows. They start talking and the princess shows to me and the man nods and comes towards me. He starts looking at how big I am and then goes into the back room and comes out with four different sets of clothing... From what I can tell this is formal party clothing, normal everyday royalty clothing, undercover clothing and... Military? Oh yeah I still am a vassal to the Princess standing before me. I''m probably expected to go to war with my weapons. Well I do need some live-fire exercises now and then to know how well my creations will work in this world. I try on the clothes one by one and the Princess seemingly buys them. The general speaks to us in hand sign and their own language knowing what we want. "The Princess wants you to put on the party clothing since we are going to meet people who are advisors to our ''lord''." (Ion) I enter the room where you change your clothes and put on the formal clothes and leave the room. I kept my lab coat on even if it is a tad dirty. The shop keeper looks at me like something isn''t ok and suddenly a ball of water appears in his hand and he comes near me and washes off the small stains of dirt I had on my lab coat. The Princess thanks the shop keeper and we leave. Time to meet the advisors... "Magic... Ion, after translation focus on magic until further notice." (Hayden) "Alright. I''m interested in the thing ''magic'' aswell." (Ion) We go back to the keep and I am about to meet the advisors to this ''lord'' of mine. Chapter 17. Advisors and trouble as usual. We enter a grand hall and there are people sitting down and most of them are all old men. Everybody immediatly gets up and bows and then sits back down. The princess says something and the General uses sign language and Ion immediatly translates it. "The princess says to follow her to our seats and not to worry about formal manners right now since we don''t know them and this isn''t a very formal meeting anyways." (Ion) "Thank you, Ion." (Hayden) While we follow the Princess the advisors cautiously look at me and Ion like some kind of exotic but dangerous creature. The princess shows to me that my seat is here and the General goes to his location opposite of us. I take a seat at the same time as the general and Ion floats down and falls onto my head. The princess starts talking to everybody and the general is quick to use sign language to assist us. "The princess is talking about us currently. All the information we gave her she is entrusting these advisors. We must be careful right now... One wrong step and we might make a few too many enemies." (Ion) I look at the advisors and my eyes stop on one of them. A young man who is slightly smiling and in his eyes is an intent to kill. The thing is... He isn''t looking at me but the princess. "Ion, do a hidden scan of the entire room and all the food. Now. I have a strange feeling something isn''t right here." (Hayden) I secretly take out my gun and put them on my lap after turning them off from safety mode. Ion takes a quick spin on my head and then scans the food. "The food is alright... No poison I think but I can''t be sure. There is one thing that is weird though... I''ve found bumps in the scans. Like a person hiding on the ceiling in the darkness." (Ion) "Ion, can you speak to the general secretly about this?" (Hayden) Ion detaches from my head and goes infront of the general and signals for him to follow Ion. They go off somewhere and the general comes back looking different and Ion plants himself on my head again. All this happened while the Princess was still talking about something. The Princess sits down and the general quickly tells the princess about the possible threat. The Princess is kind of shocked and calls for a person to come here... The General uses hand signs to talk to us. "The person who came on the princess''s call is a poison tester, the bumps on the ceiling should not be there, they are people." (Ion)This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. The poison tester starts sampling all the food. "Ion, how many people including the advisor?" (Hayden) "21." (Ion) I have more than enough bullets if I aim correctly... The reason they haven''t attacked yet is probably because of me and the General s uddenly appearing since the General came with me and I wasn''t even existing in this world until a week or so ago. The poison tester finishes testing and probably says no problems and leaves. I look at the young man who is slightly panicked because he probably didn''t know we were going to be this cautious. Suddenly the young man gets up and screams something and we are surrounded by the people. "Trouble follows me everywhere I go, doesn''t it Ion?" (Hayden) "It does Hayden. It does." (Ion) I grab my guns and get up and shoot two of them in an instant and aim at the other two and shoot. Four of them fall down in two seconds. The general gets up and draws his sword and attacks one of them by surprise aswell since it seems these guys weren''t trained... The general easily overpowered that person. I quickly shoot the cloaked assassin behind the Princess and another one at the other edge of the room. "Nine down in about seven seconds." (Hayden) I go towards the Princess and the general comes next to the princess aswell. The princess and the traitor are having a conversation and Ion is trying his best to translate but the Princess is secretly giving us hand signs and Ion translates that aswell. "The two are talking about who would be better to rule this country but the Princess told me that this is actually because the traitor is fanatically in love with the Princess and has an obsession with being in power. The only reason he got on this council was because of the excellent martial ability he had." (Ion) "So it''s fine to shoot him?" (Hayden) Ion asks the Princess and she nods. The other assassin''s recover from the shock of seeing nine of their comrades dead in seven seconds and charge at us. I shoot only three times and the assassin''s running towards me are dead. Six of them to be correct. Five remaining and the traitor. The old advisors are shocked and some even fell unconcious due to it... I hope... I help the general get rid of his opponents and aim at the traitor. One shot to the head and he falls to the ground. "It only took fifteen shots due to them grouping up and being easy fodder for guns... I wonder if this is what it would feel like in that one anime... Easily shooting down enemies with medieval gear." (Hayden) The Princess gets up and so do all the concious advisors. The Princess tells us to follow her and Ion luckily knew that and translated it for me. We go to a close-by room and Ion quickly scans it and finds no threats. This time we all sit down and guards surround is and guard us. The princess talks and the general translates as usual. "This room has been secured and the food that is being brought will be tested so we have no more threats. The advisors who fell unconcious are being taken to the mages for emergency treatement. She also is sorry for the trouble and she knew that somebody was plotting something and it was probably that advisor aswell but she couldn''t do anything without a proper reason." (Ion) "Alright then... Guess we can properly introduce ourselves. How much have you learnt about this language?" (Hayden) "Almost everything I think. I used around forty percent of my cores energy in the town just to find all the words used and translate them for communication. I am confident in holding a decent conversation with basic words." (Ion) "Good. Introduce us, Ion." (Hayden) I g et up and Ion floats into the middle of the room and starts talking in their language surprising everybody there, especially the general. "How much should I tell them?" (Ion) "Keep the information about our other world secret but tell everything we have encountered in this world." (Hayden) "Affirmative." (Ion) Ion talks and talks about all we have done here and that we have brought our research centre into this capital to assist the Princess and we hope for their co-operation. How do I know all that? Since Ion kept asking me about what to say. I sit back down and Ion lands on my head. Now.. We have introduced ourselves as Humans, real ones, who are helping the Princess through research even more advanced than this world''s humans probably. How will the advisors react to us suddenly appearing and they already saw the gun that we plan to give to elite soldiers at first and later to every soldier as Ion told them... Well most of our plan is just to secure more and more research material and a way to go back to our world... For that I need the Princess''s faction to win and the Empire to grow bigger and bigger. Chapter 18. Introductions. The advisors sit quietly looking at eachother like they are talking to eachother using their eyes or... Magic. I whisper to Ion for confirmation. "Psst Ion... Can you detect any irregularities going on between the advisors... Like some kind of telepathy?" (Hayden) Ion takes a sneak scan at the air around the room and analyzes it. Ion whispers back to me. "I detect something akin to waves being transmitted between the advisors. Most likely telepathy like you suspected, Hayden." (Ion) I nod and the advisors look at me after they have finish their talks. They then turn their heads to the Princess. The princess says something and starts laughing and the advisors get embarrased but also mad at me. "The Princess told them to stop using telepathy and we already know that they are using it to communicate and it won''t be long before we can listen in to their secret conversations." (Ion) "Thank you, Ion." (Hayden) The advisors keep staring at me until one gets up. He shouts something but Ion translates it for me quickly. "He doesn''t accept this, he can''t believe we are humans. Humans don''t like to get involved in the business of the world after some kind of grand war." (Ion) The other advisors speak up quickly aswell. "They all agree with him." (Ion) This is either going to end up in me running and shooting or them peacefully sitting down. I prefer the latter... The Princess talks and they get a little frightened. "The Princess told them to remember the power of the guns we have with us. It seems they kind of forgot about those." (Ion) The advisors sit down quietly after the Princess talks with them for a bit. I really need Ion to give me some kind of dictionary of this world. "Ion, can you transmit the words they are speaking infront of me in a screen and our world''s language below it so I can try to learn the language." (Hayden) "Affirmative." (Ion) Ion displays a screen infront of me. The Princess starts talking again and the words appear on the screen. She is talking about the benefits we would be to their cause and trying to convince the advisors. It seems the Princess can''t do much without the advisors say in the matter. An hour or two passes until some of the advisors start to agree with the Princess about having us stay here and working under the Princess as a semi-free vassal. Another hour passes and all the advisors agree on having us in the Princess''s faction as a vassal. "Ion, ask them why they didn''t want to have us in the faction as a vassal in the first place." (Hayden) Ion talks to them and they answer. They have no land to give out and no extra troops for a new squad even... And it seems the attack from before shook them up a little bit and they need to have very loyal vassals for the Princess as to stop revolts so the war can go successfuly huh...If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. "That is a satisfactory answer... Now... I want to get to research the atoms and everything of this world! I must! Ion, ask them where can I set up a research centre and could I get a few helpers around the place who aren''t afraid of burning their hands off. They can be slaves or whatever but I just need three or four helpers." (Hayden) Ion speaks to them and they all listen and when Ion gets to the part about the helpers they look wide-eyed. One of them speaks back and is surprised we are even willing to take one helper if we are creating the guns since these guns could potentially change the world. "Ion, tell them that''s all the more reason for helpers isn''t it? Some very loyal helpers who will never tell out anything I do in there without my permission. That''s why I said slaves are acceptable since the probability of slavery magic what doesn''t allow slaves to do anything without the master''s permission is... 75%." (Hayden) Ion speaks and they are all amazed at the thinking process we show. The same advisor speaks and says that he is with us on setting up a research centre and giving us five slave helpers loyal to only me. The other advisors quickly agree and in a few hours I have got my own little research centre''s building... Now to move everything in and research this world and make my knowledge of this world more complete! --- POV Switch to Princess --- I''m currently walking with the General as some maids show our two guests to their new home... Wait... I never did ask for their names properly or introduced myself... Guess I''ll do that tomorrow, the meeting with the advisors tired me out. "Princess, what do you think of them? Are you still sure we should parade them around as heroes? Wouldn''t it be better to keep quiet about the fact we have a human who might be from that place here.." (General) "I''m certain General. They deserve it." (Princess) I wave goodbye to the General as I enter my room and go to sleep. The next morning I head over to the building to properly introduce myself to them. The moment I go close to their building I hear laughing and somebody screaming in shock. I run in and open the door just to see some kind of liquid burning through some metal we were asked to get him before midnight. The scream came from one of the women who accidentally spilled the liquid on the metal sheet and fell down on the ground. Wait... Isn''t that metal one of the toughest? What the hell kind of liquid is that?! The little weird metal ball with glowing glass floats over to me. "Hello Princess. Do not mind Hayden... He just found something very interesting and potentially dangerous enough to murder all of us if not properly contained. He is always like this when he finds something interesting to research. Every. Single. Time." (Metal ball) The metal ball seems like it has some kind of emotions... Even this is weird... "I came... To properly introduce myself..." (Princess) "Come this way." (Metal ball) The metal ball screams something at the human and he looks at me and sighs and comes with the metal ball. We go into a seperate room where we all take a seat. I get up soon after as I see they are waiting for me. "I am Princess Emilialotte Aura. Daughter to the late Emperor Leo Maximus Aura, sister to three brothers... My mother I have never met. You can just call me Emilia." (Emilia) The metal ball floats up. "I am Artificial Intelligence Droid number 57765 tasked with helping researchers, Codename : Ion. My current owner is him. I also currently act as a translator." (Ion) He speaks up but I don''t understand a word. "He is Hayden Igbhan, Former Head Scientist of the Sol Relay before the Sol Relay blew up. His sister is Alicia Igbhan, a woman he left behind to come to this world to research instant travel through vast spaces. Hayden specialises in no field of research and is proficient in all of them. He has no family or even a girlfriend as he is completely devoted to research currently." (Ion) He... Actually left behind his sister just to research a world which could''ve killed him? And... He was a former head scientist of what? "Umm.... What is the Sol Relay?" (Emilia) "The Sol Relay is a Relay Research Station set up around the Sol System. You do know about the sun in the sky right? And everybody is centered around it? He was basically the Head Scientist of an entire solar system. Until... The sun called ''Sol'' in it''s true name blew up after many years of expanding." (Ion) Why... Do I feel so tiny compared to him all of a sudden...? Like an ant meeting a god... "Do you have any other questions? Hayden''s getting a tad impatient as he has a lot to get done today." (Ion) "No, I don''t... Thank you for your time..." (Emilia) I get up and leave the building. He looked so cold when he spoke like he didn''t care about any of his family members. No emotions except towards science... No remorse for killing people for science. Just... What has happened to him? Not to care about anything else except science? I ponder these questions as I walk through the various corridors with my guards. The general comes next to me. "I heard you visited Hayden... What did you... Princess? What''s wrong? You seem pale in your face..." (General) "General... Hayden... He has abandoned all emotions and is devoted to science... That isn''t a living being... The metal ball called Ion is just another one of his creations.. With emotions. What have I actually brought to my home?" (Emilia) --- POV Change back to Hayden --- "You told her too much, Ion." (Hayden) "I only told her the truth." (Ion) I sigh as I keep on dissassembling parts of different materials brought to me and trying to figure out what they are. The liquid from before... It''s kind of like acid but more effective. I want to go back to Alicia but... I must keep researching. I have a promise to upkeep. I must not have anything else bother me... Chapter 19. A few tests. After meeting with the Princess Emilia I head back to the tests I had to pause. All of the ''slaves'' brought to me are busily working on disassembling certain materials I had brought in for research. To be honest I kind of gave their freedom back since I have no idea what to do with slaves and I only know what to do with colleagues who assist me with research. And thanks to that I only gave them three orders, the first was to never betray me and tell my secrets to anybody else, the second was to assist me with my research, the third was to be free from slavery but still listen to the three orders. I head over to the liquid that burnt through this weird metal to take a look at it since this could be useful. "Ion, can you tell what this liquid is made of?" (Hayden) "Scanning... There are very faint traces of Nitric Acid but there is something else in the liquid aswell... This isn''t in my database as usual. What is scaring me more is that there is no knowing what this thing could do to us right now. Might be toxic enough to kill us all. Luckily I scanned the area for toxicity... Very very minimal readings currently which shouldn''t harm a human at all, maybe a dog from our world would be slightly alarmed of the toxicity. This world''s air seems to always be with the same toxin so I made the scan when I was switched on back at the forest." (Ion) "I knew that you would scan the toxicity the moment the reaction started Ion. Do you think I''m stupid? I don''t even have a gas mask in this world so I wouldn''t take such risks..." (Hayden) Ion kind of laughs in the most robotic way possible... "You are stupid though. When you first came to this world you didn''t think that you would well maybe... End up in an uninhabitable world where the air is so toxic even a millisecond of exposure would kill you?" (Ion) "O... Oh... I hadn''t though about that... I was just thinking about what would I find on the other side and not how I would survive here... Also why didn''t you mention it before?" (Hayden) "You didn''t ask me and I didn''t see the need to report it to you as it had no effect on your research, health, mentality or anything else." (Ion) I sit down on a chair, "I''m really damn stupid when it comes to travelling worlds aren''t I? Well... I guess I was hoping that my long exposure to many different toxins in the lab would save me..." (Hayden) Ion floats ontop of me. "Well no other human being from our worlds have travelled worlds through warp gates which have no known destination and could potentially kill the human." (Ion) "Ion, now you are just making fun of me." (Hayden) Ion floats away out of my reach and I go back to the liquid. "Anyways... How do we contain this liquid? It seems to not react with dirt at all after it burnt through the stone floor and the weird metal sheet and the wooden table." (Hayden) "Does it react with glass at all? That would be your first question, Hayden." (Ion) I grab a glass vial from the table and touch the liquid with it. No reaction. Two minutes later, no reaction.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. "Seems it doesn''t react with grass, dirt and glass. Glad to know we won''t be burning holes through the world anytime soon by accidentally dropping a glass vial." (Hayden) I try to gather as much of the liquid as possible without harming myself which is kind of difficult considering it wants to burn everything what isn''t grass, dirt or glass. "What did the people call this metal again?" (Hayden) "They called this metal ''Trah''. Supposedly it is the fourth strongest known metal in this known world. The reason why I am using known everywhere is... There is no god damn way there exists only one continent the size of Africa and that''s it. All of the maps I''ve encountered show only one continent." (Ion) "Yeah I can''t really believe it either. It would be a very very rare situation where most of the planet is underwater or... They just haven''t discovered it yet." (Hayden) I grab the metal. "Ion, try to burn a hole through the metal with a a very low-power laser." (Hayden) Ion shoots a laser at it and it doesn''t even dent this metal. "Just low-power now." (Hayden) Ion shoots a stronger laser which leaves a little tiny dent. "Medium power." (Hayden) And another laser which goes through the sheet. "A medium powered laser can make a hole through this. It lives up to it''s name, a gun like mine could completely pass through it but it would stop after going through only a bit of the person on the other side of the sheet. Not enough to kill." (Hayden) "It truly is a tough material. Enough for an armored car''s inside for ground jobs but just too weak for a spaceship. But this is the fourth strongest... " (Ion) "We need the first. And now. But how can we utilise this liquid? I mean it is as strong as a medium-powered laser from our era which is about three thousand years away." (Hayden) "Hayden, wrong question again. How can we create this liquid is the first. You keep thinking about utilising things but not creating more... I''m starting to doubt that you were the head scientist by now." (Ion) "Yes... I am getting ahead of myself always aren''t I? I need to slow down my train of thought a little bit I guess. But we still need to know what the hell this liquid is as even the Princess seemed to not know it when she entered before." (Hayden) Ion suddenly turns and looks at me. "You actually noticed her coming in?" (Ion) "Yes. I notice everybody walking into my lab since I had to in the previous world." (Hayden) I look behind me and see the assistants looking at me weirdly. "Why are they doing that?" (Hayden) "I think they are trying to figure out what language we are speaking and why the hell you are speaking to a floating metal ball." (Ion) "They should really get used to you and soon. I''m planning on making some droids in the future to assist me in never leaving the lab again." (Hayden) One of the female assistants walk forward with a handfull of scales and puts them on the table next to me. I turn around and pat her on the head. "Ion, say thanks to her. This is the Dragonoid scales isn''t it? Should be tough to break apart from eachother." (Hayden) Ion speaks in their language while translating what he is saying and what the woman responds. "Seems she was happy to get acknowledged by us." (Ion) "Indeed..." (Hayden) I pick up one of the scales and look at it. I then try to snap it in half but it doesn''t even budge. "Ion, low-power laser." (Hayden) Ion cuts through it with a little trouble using the low-power laser. "Kind of tough... This is a red scale so it''s origin should be from a fire dragonoid... Should be very effective against fire if it is so." (Hayden) "More tests?" (Ion) "As many as currently possible with the equipement we have on hand. Proper tests are kind of hard to do with the current level of technology." (Hayden) --- Meanwhile in the Capital of the King''s faction --- Three people are arguing. "What do you mean the attack failed?! We even payed off the guards for that attack! The only trouble would''ve been getting in there and that was handled aswell! You incompetent fools! You can''t even avenge my brother''s death huh!?" (???) "Now now calm down. It is true that the attack failed and our little over-the-edge lover for Emilia is now probably dead... But we have other plans don''t we?" (???) "No we don''t! I put all my current resources in her faction into that attack!" (???) "What!? All of them!? You god damn idiot!" (???) "Ow! That hurt Marcus!" (???) "You deserved it you god damn idiot of a brother!" (Marcus) They all sit down again. "How can we wrestle for control now... Our leader, our king, our brother... Died attacking some out of the way location. Our resources in both the enemy factions completely used because of Kain''s idiocy. The only thing we have left is the elite army. Samuel. Ideas? You are the one who handled all the background stuff anyways." (Marcus) "Only one. We sent the elite army to crush our cute little sister''s army. It is made out of low-ranked soldiers after all. After we gain control of her territory we can deal with the commoner''s faction the same way. Their army is even less trained." (Samuel) "I like it!" (Kain) "Agreed. Let us go and find our sister once again." (Marcus) Chapter 20. Exploring the Capital, Enemy arrives. A week or so has passed since I have come to my lab... "We''ve completely ran out of materials to test on. We cannot even create anything useful yet since these materials really don''t want to mix with eachother very well. One of the mixes even blew up in my face... Well atleast I got to craft more magazines with bullets due to some of the remnants of my tests." (Hayden) "Indeed. We cannot even try to create even the most simplistic of droids. We need more materials and some lower end ones aswell. We cannot only have high end since might not know if some of the lower end ones actually are better than high end for us." (Ion) I nod and stretch my hands. "What the hell should we do now?" (Hayden) "Explore the capital? I mean we haven''t left this lab for exactly eight days and fifteen hours." (Ion) I quickly think about it and then get up from my chair. "Alright then. Since we have nothing else to do yet I''ll go tell the Princess we need some other materials and I want to explore the capital." (Hayden) I look at all the almost-free ''slaves'' I have around who are just sitting and looking at me. "Ion, tell them they can go and do whatever they want for... Three days. They have three days to do whatever they want inside the city and then come back." (Hayden) Ion floats to the middle of the lab and tells them to relax and go out of the lab for three days to have some fun. By now I know a lot about the language but I can''t really speak it, I mess up all the words and their order constantly embarrasing myself so I prefer to just let Ion do the talking. This language is confusing a little... Each every change can change the meaning of the sentence completely. Try to talk about fun and you end up talking about a mountain or something. The moment Ion finishes they all slowly leave the lab and we leave aswell after locking up and making sure none of our secrets will be spilled if anybody enters. I head to the throne room of the capital and ten guards stop me from even touching the door. "Ion, tell them if they realise it''s me..." (Hayden) When Ion finishes the guards pull back their spears letting me pass through. I open the doors to the throne room and enter. "What do you mean we don''t have enough crops to feed our people if we keep using the usual ways!? But it''s worked so well so far!? How can it suddenly not!?" (Emilia) I walk closer to the throne where Emilia is speaking with a farmer. "My princess... The crops this season don''t want to grow very well. We suspect they won''t grow next year either. We need to find a solution, Princess!" (Farmer) I walk next to the farmer.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! "Ion, tell them I might have an answer if they don''t the four-way crop rotation and Irrigation since I doubt they do looking at the technology of this world." (Hayden) Ion speaks with them and they look at me with surprise. Oi, I still am a man from another world with technology thousands of years away from you! Don''t underestimate me! "Please, tell us Hayden! We can put it to use next year!" (Emilia) "Ion, tell them about the foyr-way Crop Rotation and Irrigation systems. Mainly about crop rotation and tell them in detail how to do it." (Hayden) Ion tells them about the four-way Crop Rotation system which uses four different fields and only one of those fields has a fodder crop for the farm animals. Emilia is quick to grab a paper and pen from behind the throne and write down what Ion is speaking. "Ion, also tell them to make some rice fields since they yield high rewards if cared for properly aswell and tell them the ways to to harvest rice correctly. I doubt they have this technique since it''s an European-styled Empire and on the way here I saw no rice at all." (Hayden) After Ion finishes speaking, the farmer gets up from fainting all of a sudden and Emilia finishes putting all Ion''s words on a paper and handing it to a guard and instructing the guard to give it to the advisors for overview. "Ion, tell Emilia to make the farmer leave. I need to speak with her in private." (Hayden) Emilia gets up after Ion finishes speaking. She tells the farmer to leave and for me to follow her. We go into her bedroom for some reason... "This is the best spot for us to talk. No guards needed, no holes in the walls and safe." (Emilia) "Ion, tell her that I want to explore the capital for three days and while I am away from the lab I need some lower-end materials brought into the lab so I can continue my tests." (Hayden) Ion speaks to her for a bit. "Alright. I shall let you go into the Capital but stay away from the slums. Somebody might steal your ''guns''. The lower-end materials shall be brought to the lab by the end of the third day." (Emilia) "Ion, thank Emilia for me." (Hayden) We try to leave but Emilia stops us. "Don''t leave without any money. You might find something!" (Emilia) Emilia throws us a bag of gold coins and I bow and leave. I head into the aristocrat''s shopping district. "So this is the shopping district solely for the Royalty and Aristocrat''s. I wonder what the capital for the Empire would be like... Well if this was an actual civil war the capital would be destroyed." (Hayden) "Incorrect, my database says that the true capital of the Empire is in the middle of it''s territory and is declared a ''Neutral Territory'' as in no army must march into it except for the defence army from bandits and such. It is a complete neutral territory and no battles must be fought near it." (Ion) "Where did you hear that?" (Hayden) "The guards were talking about the Capital a few days ago." (Ion) I laugh for a bit and then we start walking amongst the shopping district. A lot of clothing and jewelry, barely any food shops. I''m guessing the blacksmith and other such jobs are in the citizen''s districts. I walk around the district for about an hour or so before leaving and heading into the citizen''s districts, mainly the shopping ones. I kept a close eye on the bag of gold coins Emilia gave me and my guns, so far nobody has even touched them except me. "So the west portion of the city is mainly shopping districts, the north portion residential, the east is for smitheries and blacksmiths and other craftmanship works... Kind of like an industrial district. And the south portion is half-trade, half-adventurer''s guild based on this map..." (Ion) "Indeed Ion. Also... The adventurer''s guild part catches my interest. It''s a legal way to start murdering everything and gathering their materials. Also an easy way to get information on some more rare materials. I''ll need to ask Emilia about it." (Hayden) I start heading back but I hear a loud bell from behind me and a guard frantically hit it and other guards run to the wall. I head closer to the guard and hear what he is shouting. "It''s the King''s Faction Elite Army! All civilians to your homes! All soldiers to the walls! This is going to be a terrifying fight!" (Guard) "Ion, should we?" (Hayden) "We should. You did craft a few more magazines didn''t you two days ago? We should have enough bullets to take down about 45% of an army if their size is under a thousand." (Ion) "Let''s do this then. Ion, go grab my bag with the magazines from the lab and bring it to me. I''ll be on this part of the wall until I get the magazines." (Hayden) Ion floats away and I head up to the wall. Now... For some live-fire tests on the elite soldiers of the Empire to test how powerful my guns actually are. So far my guns have proved to be... Very strong. But how strong are they actually...? Chapter 21. The Elite. I run to the top of the wall and look at the coming army. "Decently sized but not a thousand... I guess it truly is an Elite army, even if it is from an Empire." (Hayden) One of the guards on the wall comes next to me, shouts something and tries to throw me towards the stairs, probably wants me to go evacuate as I don''t look really... Soldier-like. Let''s just say he is terribly wrong in his decision to try to make me go away from the fight. The guard tries to get me off the wall again but I grab his hand and twist it while looking in his eyes and taking out my pistol. A ladder appears next to me and I look below, they are here. I throw the guard back and take out my other pistol and start shooting down towards the Elite. "Tch... They know about spacing just in case the defenders have a catapult or something like that... I can''t kill more than one shooting in a two meter radius... Well they are Elite." (Hayden) Two Elite Soldier''s climb up the ladder next to me but the moment they touch the wall I shoot them in the head and continue my little bombardment of the ones still below. "Hayden, here are the magazines." (Ion) Ion floats next to me and I see a whole bunch of magazines in a bag being carried by him. "I also told the Princess the situation and gathered information whilst flying. The enemy numbered 650 before you started shooting, they number 624 now. We haven''t lost any troops yet since they haven''t gotten on the wall but it is only a matter of time since the main force is coming." (Ion) "Main Force?" (Hayden) I shoot another enemy down on the ground in the face. "This 650 troops is only the vanguard for the 2050 troops coming from behind with the true firepower. These troops are here to ''test the waters'' and see how well we can defend." (Ion) "I don''t have enough magazines for this." (Hayden) "Correct... You should have enough bullets to take care of this vanguard by yourself and about 500 soldiers from the Main Force if you only shoot the head and kill them in one shot." (Ion) I shoot another Elite in the face who is climbing up the ladder. "Should I just try to shoot three of them at a time?" (Hayden)Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. "You should if you can. Their armor is weaker than the ones we tested our bullets on." (Ion) I smirk as I shoot another Elite in the face. Three Elites make it onto the ladder I am guarding but I kick the ladder and they all get crushed by the ladder and the weight of their armor. I keep shooting, they keep dying. "This is repetitive. Are these guys really elite? They don''t feel like it..." (Hayden) "They are. Their armor and formations are the exact same as the Main Force who you can see in... Three... Two... One." (Ion) The Main Force starts marching towards the city from the riverside next to the two big hills. "They picked the location between the hills to hide themselves and ''surprise'' attack us?" (Hayden) Ion doesn''t say anything and I keep shooting. This continues until night when the enemy Vanguard is obliterated. "Ion, give me a sort of status report." (Hayden) "All enemy Vanguard dead. Fifty soldiers from ours dead, hundred and thirty seriously wounded and unable to fight. Two hundred lightly wounded, can still fight tomorrow. About three thousand of our troops left but two thousand of theirs. Your ammunition can kill exactly 523 troops from the Main Force until you run out." (Ion) I nod and sit down looking at the enemy main force''s campsite just outside the accurate range of my pistols. I hear shouting from far away and look to see the General encouraging the men and boosting their morale until he sees me and rushes towards me. He looks over the wall and starts laughing as he sees the empty magazines next to me and the full ones to the other side and Ion floating about. All the troops look towards the General as he takes a seat next to me. He says something while looking towards Ion. "He says that your kill count must be high and this only boosts your credibility as a hero." (Ion) "Ion, tell him I only have enough firepower to take out 523 of them and then I have to retreat to try to make some more in time." (Hayden) Ion speaks to the General and he looks at me in surprise and says something in a stuttering voice. "He said how can you can take out that many of them with such a tiny object. Not even fifty catapults firing for the day can take out that many Elites..." (Ion) Suddenly I hear shouting from the other side and see Emilia in armor helping boost Morale and as she passes me she stops and looks at me sitting with the general. She looks over the wall surprised and keeps walking but I see a little difference in her walk as she seems frightened after that. "Ask the general why the Princess suddenly became frightened." (Hayden) Ion speaks to him and he responds and laughs after that. "He said that the Princess thought you could take out at most fifty of them before having to run, not three hundred or so that are down there. Also... How did you get three hundred of them to come after you? The Elites were spread thin since most of the Vanguard was attacking the ladder I was guarding." (Ion) "Tell him it''s probably since the Vanguard was sent to find and eliminate the most dangerous soldier on the wall to make it easier for the Main Force. And since I was killing them in a weird undescribable way they must have decided I must be killed." (Hayden) Ion speaks with the General and he gets up, says something and leaves after seeing the Princess do some kind of hand sign towards him. "He said that he must leave now since the Princess is calling for him and that we keep guarding this ladder until we must retreat." (Ion) "Thanks Ion. Wake me up when they start moving towards the wall. Even if it is only one troop. Also guard the Magazines." (Hayden) I lay down on the wall and slowly fall asleep. I wake up the next moment since Ion zapped me with an electrical outburst. "They are attacking. It''s their entire force. They are going all-out." (Ion) I grab my pistols and start shooting the ones in the accurate range almost instantly. This is going to be an actually tough battle instead of a massacare... Chapter 22. Main Force The Main Force is advancing very quickly, almost too fast to be natural. Another ladder is placed in the section I am guarding and about seven of them start climbing up but I run to it, shoot them straight in the head and pull the ladder up since knocking it down would just benefit me for a few seconds. "So many... Atleast I took down seven with one bullet just now. The ladders are my friends." (Hayden) One of the Elites reach the wall on the section the guards are guarding and I immediatly shoot him in the head and run to the ladder. I look down the ladder seeing about ten of them climbing up and one of them swinging their sword at me to clear a path to come onto the wall. I barely dodge the sword by leaning backwards but it cuts a shallow wound on my forehead. I kick the Elite in the stomach and he falls off the ladder ontop of three other Elites. I aim down the ladder, fire and pull it up once again to throw it to the other side of the wall. I run back to my section and start firing at the masses trying to cause as much mayhem as possible. I look to my sides to see my allies getting overpowered by the Elite troops. "This is troublesome... We won''t last. Even if I can take down a few of them on the wall it won''t be enough..." (Hayden) I look at the wall and all the points where they can go into the city. Only one staircase, only one point where they can get off in this part of the wall. Bad building for the defenders when the enemy isn''t on the wall but excellent for when they are. I fall back to the staircase to defend it for as long as possible. The Elites finish off the last of the garrison on the wall. They all turn their heads to me. "It''s show time?" (Ion) "It''s show time indeed, Ion." (Hayden) I shoot to the left and right at the same time killing many of the soldiers. "Ion, how many left? Both bullets and enemies." (Hayden) Ion floats up into the air, then below me and then next to me. "You have 4 magazines which are full left and your current magazine is half full. The enemy number is currently 1327 troops out of 2000. Reinforcements are coming from the castle and ETA is five minutes. The wall Garrison from the other sides are coming aswell, ETA two minutes. We need to hold out for two minutes for the Wall Garrison to sandwich them from the sides and another three for our own Elite guard to get here." (Ion)Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. I nod as I shoot another five or six of them down. 4 and a little less than a half magazines... Not enough. I keep shooting and infront of me is a sort of sandbag entrenchment, just out of corpses. "Two and a half magazines left. One minute has passed." (Ion) I went through two entire magazines in a minute!? I keep shooting and shooting since my life and possibly all the citizens lives below me are depending on it. "Half a magazine left. Wall Garrison has begun flanking. Enemy troops number 1082, our own troops with the Princess''s Guard included, 5999 since one just died." (Ion) I finish off the last of my magazine, put my guns in my holster and grab a broken-bladed sword from the ground. "Almost the size of a knife... Perfect." (Hayden) I jump over the sandbags since they''ll just hinder me currently since the enemy has longer weapons. "Luckily I know hand to hand combat..." (Hayden) One of them swings their swords at me, I dodge by ducking and cut his throat with the side of my ''knife''. I grab his sword and throw my knife into the pile of corpses behind me. Three of the enemy attack me at the same time and swing at the same time. I dodge by jumping back and then charge towards the middle man, cutting into his throat. I pull the sword out swinging it to the right cutting the right man''s head off and in the next moment I do a spin and cut off the left man''s arm and head. I didn''t get injured but I was very close to it when they swung at me. "Wall Garrison troops are winning their battles and pushing towards the centre but the enemy keeps coming from the ladders. Our total troops now number 5753 while the enemy numbers 734. 539 of those are on the wall. Your current kill count, including the vanguard, is 633. Princess''s Guard ETA, 2 minutes." (Ion) Five of the Elites charge at me, two from the front, two from the right and one from the left. I dodge the overhead swings from the front, block the attacks from the right but the left one struck my elbow with his swing quite badly. "Damn it!" (Hayden) I quickly swing my weapon through the throats of the Elites on the right dodge the attacks from the front by ducking and then cut their legs but my weapon breaks in half. I throw the broken sword at the Elite on the left while I grab a sword from my right and stab the two wounded Elite soldiers infront of me. More and more of them keep attacking me. "Princess''s Guard, ETA 20 seconds." (Ion) Three from both sides... Three from the front... I dodge by jumping back over the pile of bodies, grab the broken sword imbedded in it and charge back in. I swing the broken to the left while I swing the non-broken sword to the right. I kill two from the right and one from the left in an instant. "Princess''s Guard, ETA 15 seconds. They are reaching the stairs behind you." (Ion) Four of them charge from the front while none from the side. The side ones swing horizontally and the ones in the middle vertically. I block the middle ones swings with my non-broken sword, the swing from the right with the broken sword but I take a hit to my stomach from the left. I bear through the pain as I stab my sword through the heart location of a middle soldier, use my leg to kick him off the sword and instantly swing it to the left, killing the Elite I don''t have a way to block. I use my leg to kick down the soldier on the right while using my knife-sized broken sword to cut through the throat of the other middle soldier. I then use my sword and pierce the chest of the downed soldier and jump back since the bleeding is slowing me and the almost unbearable pain is doing no favors aswell... "Princess''s Guard has arrived." (Ion) I hear footsteps coming from the stairway and I look to my side and see soldiers clad in white armor running up and the Princess is at the bottom, coming up as well. "Enemy soldiers number 343, all of them on the wall. Hayden..?" (Ion) I smile at the soldier in the front as I collapse due to blood loss and immense pain. Chapter 23. Aftermath. I wake up and slowly open my eyes only to see an unfamiliar ceiling... Well this is to be expected by now, I guess. I look at my body which is covered in bandages and remember the battle. "Ion? Where... Is Ion?" (Hayden) I look around the room but don''t see him and when I try to get up my wounds stop me and I fall onto the bed again. "Guess I still can''t move... Where am I first of all? Then where is Ion?" (Hayden) I look at the room making out all the details. "King-sized bed... Room is huge as well... Double-doors to the right of me... Three huge windows on the wall to the left covering it entirely... Can''t see behind me but on the wall infront of me are a lot of art works but I can''t see their contents well... Two sofa''s and a table are here as well and nothing else I can really see... Everything is hugely white. Even this bed I am on is mostly white..." (Hayden) I hear footsteps past the wall to my right and I immediatly turn my head towards the double-doors. The doors open a while after and a maid walks through with a cart full of new bandages and some other tools to possibly help with curing the wounds. She walks closer to me until she notices I am awake and looking at her. What should I say here? Hello? Why must my communication skills falter at such moments... She suddenly runs out leaving the doors open and the cart next to me. I hear running and a lot of shouting. The first one who enters my vision is Ion with a lot of magazines and my pistols hanging on him. The second is... Princess Emilia and three men I have never seen. I stare at Ion for an explanation. "Fine fine I get what you want, Hayden. You could just ask! Those three men are Princess Emilia''s three brothers, Samuel, Kain and Marcus. The ones who sent the Elite army after Princess Emilia." (Ion) "Thanks Ion. Where the hell am I?" (Hayden) "The actual capital of the empire, in the guests sleeping room. Before you ask, yes. The Civil War is over. The King''s Faction had no troops left so the three brothers came to surrender shortly after, The Commoner''s Faction took notice of the defeat of the Elites and submitted to the Princess''s Faction hence Princess Emilia is technically now... Empress Emilia." (Ion) "Technically?" (Hayden) I question Ion as I look at the three brothers who are staring at the ground, heads lowered and at Emilia. "She has yet to be crowned by the Church. Also it seems the church quite hates us as well... They keep shouting something like: ''The Infidel Humans are not allowed in our sacred lands! They should just cower in that mountains of theirs!''. The Church in this world has decided Humans are basically the ''demons'' and ''devils'' since a long time ago, before the humans went into the mountains." (Ion) "I''ll read on the history of the humans soon, it''s getting really interesting and well... I am a human. So... Should we expect a ball and a party soon?" (Hayden)If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Ion floats towards me. "Indeed. The Grand Ball, which is the same time as the Princess''s coronation, will be held in her honor. Which means two days from now the Princess will become the Empress and we will be hated by even the masses if we show up." (Ion) "Why?" (Hayden) Ion floats really close to my face. "Because the future Empress has fallen for you, Hayden. The oh so brave warrior who saved her Faction and helped her become the Empress. The oh so intelligent human who will assist her in advancing technologically. The oh so great future Knight." (Ion) "Wait what Knight?" Hayden) "Yes. You are going to be made a knight by the Empress right after her coronation. So you must go to the ball... Even in your state. Which by my scans is god damn horrible, I really should''ve kept a check on your vitals during that battle. Really should''ve." (Ion) A scientist from the future made into a knight from the past by an Empress. Sounds fun but troublesome, I mean becoming a knight is basically like entering the realm of aristocracy if the texts from the old times are correct. That would mean that a lot more aristocratic women would take note of me and try to catch me. Truly troublesome. "Also... Why are the three brothers here?" (Hayden) "They''ve been designated as the Three Ministers. This Empire has always had three ministers who rule over three portions of the land, The Minister of the Shadows, The Minister of the Military and The Minister of the People. The Minister of the Shadows does all the financial and the shadowy stuff like sending spies. Minister of Military explains itself and so does the Minister of the People. Also don''t ask me why Emilia wants them to become the three ministers. I have no clue myself. They were her opponents in the Civil War. Also before you ask why there are three brothers... One of them was adopted shortly after the civil war begun and he joined the King''s Faction which had the blood-related brother leading them until well... We happened." (Ion) I nod as a signal that I understand what Ion meant. Three Ministers huh... I look at Emilia who is silent but I can see her fidgeting and has a worried look on her face. Ion turns around and floats behind her and away from me and gives her a slight nudge in my direction. After Ion nudged her she came closer to me until she was near my bed and then suddenly started crying and hugged me. "Give give give! This hurts!" (Hayden) "Bear with it, Hayden. Look! A woman who isn''t your sister is crying for you! Isn''t that great!" (Ion) "I... Will... Make... You... Into scraps!" (Hayden) She hugs me for five more minutes before letting me go. "How long was I out for to make her worry this much?" (Hayden) "Twenty three days. Well it is understandable. You got a high fever three days after the battle and that fever got cured just yesterday. Your body wasn''t fully accustomed to this world and after the battle the body faltered and let in the bacteria from the surroundings." (Ion) Emilia looks at the three brothers behind her with an angry look. The three brothers understand the mood a tad too late and leave the room in a hurry. Emilia sits on the side of the bed and says something. "She said that she thought you were dead. You had weak vital signs for most of the twenty three days and only during the last two did you begin recovering. The church, who has healing magic users, refused to assist you." (Ion) She thinks for a while until she says something again. "She said that she will go and ask the church one more time but this time not one of the lower priests but from the Empire''s highest priest, the Pope." (Ion) She left but I could see her hesitating to leave my side. "Ion. What the hell happened while I was unconcious? There is no way Emilia would worry about me this much just because I helped her out during the Civil War. Otherwise she would be in love with 1000 men. Is it just because I am a powerful human?" (Hayden) "No. Her feelings towards you are true, I scanned her every time she was near you and when she was not near you. When she was near you she was relieved but when she was away from you she was scared, afraid. She also had all the characteristics of what you call ''true love''. What caused this, I don''t know. Women are a mystery even to the super-computer of the Flagship ISS Harpy. And yes, the super-computer from our world onboard the ISS Harpy actually tried understanding women''s mind processes with all it''s capability but failed." (Ion) I laugh with Ion for a bit until I remember about the ball. "Ion... There''s a slight problem... The ball is in two days right? There is no absoloute way I''ll heal in two days. Even if I had nano-machines healing me for two days straight with no recharging... They would only cure about half these wounds." (Hayden) "Hence the need for the Church. They have most of the healing magic users from all over the World under their control. Without them your wounds will heal in a month if you don''t do anything and just rest. You were beaten up pretty badly durning that battle, an entire sword went into your side. Luckily it wasn''t life-threathening but even in our world you would be in a Nano-Chamber for an entire week just in case." (Ion) "So we are just waiting for Emilia to get a healer over here to assist me?" (Hayden) Ion floats around a bit. "Yes." (Ion) And now... For the waiting game. Chapter 24. The Healer, History. I just lay on the bed for 6 hours until somebody decides to come check on me once again. The maid from before enters the room and comes next to the cart that was left untouched. "I''m sorry for running away before... I know I should have changed your bandages but the Empress told me to immediatly tell her when you wake up or even regain conciousness for a split second, is what she says." (Ion) I just nod since there is no point in having Ion translate for me wasting both of our energy. The maid starts replacing the bandages that are all around my body and cleans the wounds that aren''t healing as fast as the others. She changes all my bandages for two hours and leaves the room after bowing. I just lay down silently waiting since it is all I can do. An entire day passes until I hear footsteps coming again. This time Emilia and an unfamiliar woman enters the room with four guards, two from Emilia''s guards and two from somewhere unknown... Ion''s floating near the ceiling since he wanted more free room to float around in. Emilia rushes next to me the moment she enters the room, leaving the woman dazed for a second. She says something and Ion starts translating "She got the pope to agree to send a healer. That woman over there has a special gift, extreme healing. Apparently it is going to be painful but it will heal you in a matter of minutes." (Ion) Emilia looks at me worried but I just smile and she leaves my side and the woman comes next to me and says something. Ion quickly translates it. "She will help you this one time and not once again since she isn''t allowed to help you again. Even this is a special occasion, a member of the Church healing a Human. Now... Ready yourself." (Ion) She says something in an even weirder language and her hands illuminate green. The moment she touches my hand I feel extreme pain through my entire body, especcially where the wounds are at. I try to not scream but the pain is nearly unbearable so I let out a few sounds. I turn my head slightly and look at my wounds healing at an unbelieavable rate, the smaller wounds nearly instantly. The pain continues for five minutes until she gets to healing my stomach area. The pain increases by about ten fold as I scream due to the sudden increase in pain. I feel my cells regenerating and even my muscles putting themselves back together. A minute passes and the healing ends. No wounds exist on my body and not even a scar. The healer moves away from me and Emilia comes next to me and looks at my body and says something. "She said now we must get you into a bath and get you some proper clothing for the ball." (Ion) Everybody leaves the room and two butlers bring in a huge wooden bucket in with hot water in it. The butlers say something and leave.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "They said to get in and properly wash myself and that your suit is waiting for you outside the room and that the Ball begins in exactly twelve hours." (Ion) "Put a timer Ion." (Hayden) "Already done." (Ion) I take off my clothes and enter the bath but the moment I do I feel like somebody is staring at me and I immediatly turn my head towards the windows just to see a shadow vanish. "Ion, keep an eye on peekers... Who would even think of peeking at me though?" (Hayden) --- Meanwhile outside Hayden''s room, a Maid''s POTV --- "Empress, are you sure we should be doing this?" (Maid) I look around myself to see about twelve other maids and the Empress looking through the window of the room the Human resides in, peeking at the Human. "Sssh, he might hear us... Or Ion will hear us... Actually Ion has actually seen, heard and located us the moment we entered this area... But he assists us so just do it..." (Empress) The empress has completely changed after that Human came... She used to think of peeking at somebody the most unholy of sins and now she''s here doing it herself! And with 13 maids! Well... I can''t say that I am not curious about this human... I guess I''ll take a look as well.... --- Back to Hayden --- "What is with this! I keep feeling like there are people looking at me! Ion, tell me honestly. How many people are peeking at me?" (Hayden) "None. Just a few cats." (Ion) I quickly bathe myself and get out and put on my clothes once more after drying myself with a piece of cloth left here just for that. I leave the room and see a whole suit on a stand infront of me. No hat, a black shirt inside a black and slightly golden cape, black pants and long shoes half-way to my knees. (Author''s note: I really don''t know how to describe clothing, do I? Just think of something like a medieval version of a business suit, maybe something like this: https://tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.SUwCwmPXillxhoLUmgZJqADpEs&pid=15.1 [Not mine, found it on google.]) The worse thing is that this entire thing is also decorated to look like fancy armor, they put pieces of armor everywhere. I pull the clothing into my room and quickly change, still feeling like people are staring at me through the window. I finish putting on my clothes and leave the room and two butlers are already there. "They are here to be our escorts." (Ion) Ion quickly explains why they are here. "Can you ask them to take me to the library first. I need to find out the relation between the Church and Humans." (Hayden) Ion tells them something and they nod and start walking with me following them. A few minutes later we reach a huge library. I enter the library and in an instant a librarian with glasses comes infront of me. "Ion, tell her why I am here." (Hayden) Ion tells her and she immediatly runs off. We wait for five minutes until she comes back with three books and hands them to me and shows me to the reading table. "Ion, can you tell her that I appreciate it." (Hayden) Ion does so and I sit down and start reading. I read for nine hours, three hours for a single book since It was huge... About 600 pages for a single book! Well, I know a bit about how the conflict started... To think it was for such a stupid reason... A human who was fighting a dragon accidentaly missed a fireball and it hit a house where the church members resided. That begun the conflict. It escalated when a human burnt down three churches since all three priests in them were abusing their power to steal women from the villages they were spreading the faith into. The conflict reached it''s tip when a prophet recieved a grand vision about the humans being evil but that was in-fact a lie fabricated by the church but nobody dares say it anymore. The actual reason for the conflict reaching the tip was because the church had gotten ahold of a human princess and imprisoned her in the Cathedral of Hope, the Pope''s home. The Pope of course didn''t know of this so the moment humans crashed through the wall, gate and window destroying everything to find the princess, the Pope declared a Holy War against them. And that''s basically the simplified reason why this stupid conflict begun. The conflict hasn''t ended because the humans gave up trying to explain it and went into the mountain range to peacefully live but every now and then they come down, trying to see if the Church is still as stupid as it was and is. The Holy War has been going on for about five centuries since no pope wants to end the First Pope''s first and last command and the First Holy War. Actually the Church is just a name given by the citizens of the land, the true name of the religion is Imonothep. It is more like a cult instead of an actual chruch. Their power grew drastically when the humans went into hiding since the people believed the humans escaped from the might of the Church. How do I know all this? These are the three last books about the history of the Humans apparently. The church has burnt all others. "Ask her why she immediatly gave me these books and didn''t think I was part of the chruch." (Hayden) Ion asks the librarian my question and she answers and Ion translates. "Emilia came through here before and told her that if a human-like person with a metal ball is floating around, that they are trust-worthy and to show them whatever they ask for." (Ion) I nod and leave the Library since I need to prepeare for the Ball. The moment I leave Emilia is there waiting for me and says something to me. "She said it''s time to go, the Ball is starting soon and we must be there first." (Ion) Chapter 25. The Ball. I walk side by side with Emilia, who is wearing a red dress which reaches to the ground and her crown. We walk for a while until we reach two doors which are about five times the size of me! Emilia quickly says something to me and to Ion as well. "She says that when we enter, don''t say anything and just walk by her side, even if some people shout at you. They don''t know how important you actually are yet. Also don''t take notice of the guards, they are just a failsafe." (Ion) She nods to the two guards near the door and they open it to reveal a massive ballroom. I stand amazed before Emilia grabs my hand and pulls me forward, I haven''t seen anything this big... Mostly since I was in small science stations since my research was not... Safe. The moment we enter four guards with tower shields come to our sides as we walk on a red carpet towards a throne and a chair next to it. Near the carpet are wooden fences not properly secured to the ground, probably just to mark how close they can come. Emilia whispers something into my ear and Ion catches it. "She said to sit on the chair and wait until she says for you to get up." (Ion) I just nod as we walk forward and I hear shouting. I even see a few... Tomatoes? They are throwing tomatoes? Is this how old-classed they are in showing disrespect? The guards with their tower shields of course block them and guards from the sides of the ball room immediatly head in to do something to them... Hell I know, I didn''t major in ballroom history. When we reach the throne and chair I sit down on the chair and the tower shield holding guards go to the sides. Emilia sits down as well and some servants quickly come from the side rooms and start removing the fences to allow for some more movement. The ballroom easily has about two hundred people in it and could probably fit another five hundred if needed. It''s basically the size of a mediocre space craft! The entire ball room is riddled with tables and chairs and there is a huge dancing area right infront of me and Emilia. Emilia looks over everybody in the ball room and then stands up. "I''ll translate everything she says in real-time for now, prepare for mistakes." (Ion)The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Emilia clears her throat and then starts talking. "She says that welcome to the ball everyone. She wishes to tell them all the reason this ball is even being held. The reason is you, Hayden. Now she''s talking about all your deeds like killing the King''s Faction''s leader and then helping in defeating the Elite army. Now she''s talking about what race you are aka human... And she immediatly follows up with the decision to make you a Hero of the Empire, a title not used for a century." (Ion) Emilia sits down and I look at all the people in the ballroom. The amount of noise they are creating is amazing... I never went to any social events so this is my first time... Suddenly a lot of people shout at me and Emilia. "They are disagreeing with Emilia''s decision and they are saying that your deeds are just fake and you lied since there is no way a scrawny person like you could wield a sword or pull the string on a bow enough to kill men." (Ion) I look towards Emilia while pantomiming the action of taking out a gun. She looks towards me, understands what I want to do and nods. I pull out my gun and fire at the pillar next to the people disagreeing with me and then put the gun back in it''s holster underneath my shirt. Ah how I love inner-shirt pockets... They make taking out guns look a lot more cooler, even in movies. Everybody immediatly shuts up, looks at me and then the hole in the pillar. Emilia gets up once more. "She said that this is your power, the power to pierce even the armor of Elite''s and kill them in almost an instant." (Ion) She sits back down once more. Five minutes pass, nobody dares to even move a finger in the ballroom except the guards, me and Emilia. Ion doesn''t count since he doesn''t have a finger. Actually where the hell is Ion, ever since we entered he just dissapeared though I keep hearing him. Emilia turns her head towards the door and a messenger type person comes forward. He coughs and starts announcing names. Every time he stops talking a man and a woman come forward, bow toward Emilia and then go to the sides once again. This breaks the silent and afraid mood and restores the... Ballroom mood. Ion floats next to me from behind me. So he was behind the chair all this time. "It seems it''s dancing time." (Ion) "How do you know?" (Hayden) "I''ve been listening in on every conversation. Everybody has brought their daughter or son or both here. They are all telling the daughters to go after you and the sons after Emilia since they are already married." (Ion) I sigh and look at the ballroom, about fifteen people are looking at me with some kind of intent. Emilia whispers something into my ear. "She said that you and Emilia are going to dance." (Ion) "Wait, what?" (Hayden) Emilia suddenly gets up, grabs my hand and heads to the middle of the dancing area. Oh god no... I don''t like dancing... A few minutes later a lot of people were dancing but most eyes were focused on me and Emilia searching for any mistakes probably. Luckily this dancing style very closely resembles the ballroom dances back on Earth and the other planets... Alicia always danced with me at home, helping me practice dancing, in the hopes of me going into social events. Which I never showed up to. Now I must thank Alicia for this. And so the ball begun, me and Emilia dancing in the middle, about ten other pairs dancing around us, everybody else looking at us or forming groups and talking. A lot of servants are walking around serving food and drinks. We stop dancing after a while and head back to our seats overlooking everybody. Emilia nods at me with a face that seemingly shows no emotion but every time I look her in the eye I see... Pure happiness. Thanks to all those corporate as- no wait, I mean corporate CEO''s wanting me to become their worker, I kind of got used to reading what the other people were feeling or thinking through their faces. A butler comes up, next to us. "He is asking if we want anything." (Ion) I just politely shake my head. I want to get back to my lab though... I don''t like all these eyes focusing on me, I think some people are even talking only about me... Chapter 26. The Wish. Nobody is dancing anymore and everybody is talking about many of the subjects, most of which are about me since I hear my name every three or so seconds. I look around the ballroom once more and notice a balcony to my right. "Ion, tell Emilia I''m going to go to the balcony, I need to get some fresh air." (Hayden) I get up and almost all eyes focus on me as I leave the ballroom and go to the balcony. I just can''t stop thinking about Alicia now that I remembered her... A few minutes pass and I look behind me just to see that there are two armored soldiers blocking the doorway from a mass of women. One of the soldiers looks at me as I give him a thumbs up for the good job since I already know which most of these women want... I look up to the stars once more as I wish to see to see Alicia once more. I mean, who doesn''t want to see their family member once again after going to another unknown place for a while? Wait... How long have I been here again? As I ask myself all these questions Emilia comes to the balcony with Ion floating around her like a planet orbiting a sun.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. "Ion, project this empire''s language infront of me. I need to get my mind off Alicia..." (Hayden) Ion does so and I study the language of this Empire. Emilia comes right next to me and leans on the balcony and looks straight at me but understands that I''m doing something important. We stay like that for an entire hour, Emilia looking up at the stars as I study the language. Luckily it is more or less like English so it isn''t really hard to understand. Suddenly I feel a chill along my back and I immediatly feel Emilia tug my clothing and point up to the sky. I look at the sky and see... Two large eyes staring straight at me which dissapear in a few seconds. The guards and everybody behind me stopped to stare at it as well. Emilia says something to me and the most I can make out of it is that some kind of god has granted me my wish? "She said that the Goddess of this world has decided to grant your wish." (Ion) Wait what? My wish...? Alicia? I see a bright light a long way away, almost out of my vision. I immediatly turn around just to see Ion in my way. "It''s useless, you won''t make it there on foot. Based on the maps of this planet, the bright light came from the Kingdom on the Island and that island is about 50 720 kilometers away. There is also one of the world''s deepest ravine in your way." (Ion) I turn back around and look at the place the light came from and punch the edge of the Balcony. "Ion. I just need to speed up my research right? I just need to build a plane right?" (Hayden) "Yes, Hayden. You just need a plane." (Ion) Emilia asks something from me but since I haven''t fully studied the language I couldn''t understand any of it except something about a wish. "She asked you what kind of wish you made." (Ion) "Tell her I wished for something precious to me which I had forgotten..." (Hayden) Chapter 27. Planning. Emilia stares at me with a weird look but I don''t really put any attention to it. How do I build a plane again... I forgot, I completely forgot how to build a plane... Even though I designed one of the most efficient aircraft to use... "Ion, how many different plane blueprints do you have?" (Hayden) "Every plane blueprint starting from the year 2000, the earlier builds were discarded as non-efficient and not worth keeping in my data banks. Hence I have about 791500 plane blueprints in my data banks but we can only create about 52047 of them if we don''t have petroleum." (Ion) Petroleum huh... Whilst I am lost in my thoughts Emilia keeps staring at me like I just murdered a cat or a dog. "Ion, find every blueprint you can for anything related to creating planes, every airframe, every wing structure blueprint, everything. I''m going to go and finish this ball real quick and then we''ll start creating the blueprint for the actual plane itself near the lab. Also, find every blueprint related to helicopters as well." (Hayden) "Roger. I also want to see her soon..." (Ion) I leave the balcony with Ion floating around me and take a seat overlooking the whole ball room The earliest planes can''t fly that big of a distance with no risks... Modern planes require us to go to space and harvest the solar winds and energy... (Author: Modern as in his future time, not ours.) Emilia comes next to me and sits down as well, still staring at me. The ball progresses slowly since nobody is on the dance floor and nobody really wants to talk anymore, everybody is just doing something alone. The women who were trying to enter the balcony also gave up trying to approach me and left the ball entirely. During this time I was also studying the language of the Empire whilst listening to Ion''s ideas on the planes and helicopters.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. The ball ended shortly after and everybody started leaving. Ion and I also leave after saying our goodbyes to Emilia for today. "Ion, a helicopter is way safer than a plane right? But it will take longer." (Hayden) "Indeed... If you use the Mil Mi-17 for example it would take about eight days but if you use for example the Cirrus VK-30 it would take about five days. This is excluding all the breaks for the re-fueling and such but that means the Cirrus would have much more trouble finding a location to land whilst the Mi-17 would not. I would suggest the Mi-17 since if we crash and burn with the Cirrus we would never see Alicia again." (Ion) We keep talking whether to use a plane or a helicopter to reach Alicia whilst moving towards the lab. The production itself might take an entire month at best without help... But if I get all the resources nearly immediatly and use all of the maids and butlers not needed right now I could shorten it down to possibly 14 days of production... The flight tests and other tests to make sure it can fly without crashing would take about 3-4 days if we rush it. Stocking up on food,fuel and other supplies would take a day maybe two. The flight itself would take about ten days with the Mi-17... "Wait Ion... We actually have to make a helicopter, we can''t put any fuel or any supplies in the plane without wasting too much room right? But helicopters are literally made for such things. It''ll also require less time to produce if my calculations are right." (Hayden) "Indeed. Sadly we cannot create any of our modern helicopters otherwise we wouldn''t need any fuel, only a whole bunch of sunlight." (Ion) We reach the lab and enter it and notice everybody is back. "Ion, what about creating a few solar panels and when we land we use them to charge batteries and such. We could also use it to power for example an electric fence whilst we are on the land to protect ourselves and we only fly through the night... Though that would require us to use more fuel to light the way." (Hayden) "It could work. The more fuel part won''t matter much if we find a good spot where a lot of it is..." (Ion) I sit down and Ion lands on the desk infront of me. "The Mi-17 is our most likely helicopter to use since most of the resources should''ve appeared in this world by now." (Hayden) "Shall we send people out to scout for fuel and other materials? Since the turboshaft engine used in the Mi-17 runs on any fuel we know of." (Ion) "Yes, we should do that. I''ll make a list of all the materials and their descriptions and the same for the fuels, you take it to Emilia and ask her for a favor aka finding all of these." (Hayden) I start writing all the materials down needed for a Mi-17 and the Klimov engine for it. In the school I was taught there was an ancient Mi-17 sitting right outside it as a decoration with all of its parts scattered around it for show. That much I remember. After a while I sent Ion off whilst I created the basic plan for the helicopter on some paper. Height is about 4.76 meters and it''s rotors diameter is about 21.25 meters if I remember correctly... Spots for 27 people including the crew, length of 18.465 meters... Yeah this should do for now. Now I just have to wait for Ion to come back so we can start searching for fuel, aluminium and other metals and materials. Chapter 28. The First Mine. A few hours pass until Ion returns with a small army of volunteers...? "The Empress let us ''borrow'' this many people for our search. She also pointed out at least 10 unexplored mines and 5 mines semi-explored." (Ion) "Do they all know what the materials look like?" (Hayden) "Yes. That''s why it took a few hours. I had them all memorize the materials." (Ion) I nod and look at them all, I then return to my desk as Ion floats next to me with a map. "The mines are all recorded here with the known materials in it. None of the mines they have have any of the materials we need. Only a ton of coal and other things." (Ion) I take a look at the mines. Five of them are quite close but the others are a a fair distance away from our current location. With this small army of explorers we could search four mines at the same time... "Ion. Split them up into four different squads. Send squad one to Hipsire mine. Squad two to Koro mine. Squad three to Varille mine and the last squad to Potomo mine. Me and you shall go to Hipsire mine with the first squad." (Hayden)Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Ion does as I ask and the squads start heading off and so do I after letting Ion tell the research squad to just relax until I come back. We walk for two hours until we reach Hipsire mine. "This is Hipsire Mine. Nobody has explored it yet since there is a far bigger mine, which has some rare materials which we don''t need, just a mere hours walk away from here." (Ion) I grab my electric drill out of my backpack as we head into the mine or more like a cave. The Empire pre-emptively named all the mines so it would be easier to understand which mine to go to next, probably... We walk in a pattern that kind of looks like a Roman two. Ah, good old Rome... We found a ton of records about them in a facility near the Alps. About thirty minutes and nothing. Just pure stone. Even Ion isn''t detecting anything else than stone. An entire hour has passed after we''ve entered. We''ve found small traces of aluminium but not enough to build an entire helicopter. Two hours have passed after we''ve entered... We found the holy grail. The Holy Grail of metals. We hit a dead end as well but the dead end contained all the things we could''ve hoped to get. Ion''s detected aluminium, tin, zinc, copper, silver, iron and a slight bit of gold as well. We''ve got over half of the materials we need but we still need more copper and aluminium. I start mining with the others and Ion uses his laser to cut through the stone surrounding the iron pockets to ''mine'' them as well. We mine for at least an hour and a half without any breaks and there is just a massive pile of ores in the middle of the area we are mining. Suddenly we hear somebody running towards us and when I look at the tunnel I see one of the people I sent to the Koro mine. "We''ve found what you call ''Oil''! The leader sent me to immediatly give you this information after we found the pocket of it!" (Explorer) "Ion." (Hayden) Me and Ion immediatly head off to the Koro mining site. Chapter 29. Black gold. We rush over to the Koro mine to see everybody outside and one of them is half-covered in oil. "The oil deposit is at the bottom of the mine. The lucky guy over here randomly dug into one by accident." (Explorer) I look towards the lucky person and then towards the mine. How shall we transport this out of the mine... Put it in barrels and then get it out? Pipes would take too long to set up so barrels are basically the only way how... "Let''s head downwards for now. Let''s see how much we get..." (Hayden) We head down into the mine with Ion in the lead and me right behind him. When we reach the bottom level the entire thing is flooded with oil and the level is still rising. "Is there some kind of magic ore producing oil or what?!" (Hayden) Well if there was such an ore... Please... Please give it to me. "Hayden. We need aluminium barrels for transport. I can handle the fractional distillation with the laser and other tools I have at hand though it will take a few days." (Ion)Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. I run back to the top with the others. "Ion, go towards the city, find the Empress and tell her we need carts. A ton of carts. Once the carts are here we load the materials from the first mine and head towards a blacksmith''s location or such and smelt the aluminium first and construct barrels from the aluminium and the bring the oil and then we check what is going on in the 3rd and 4th mines if they haven''t sent a messenger." (Hayden) Ion flies off and I follow after telling the explorers to rest for a while through hand signals which they luckily understood. I run towards the capital for an hour and when I reach the capital all the carts are ready and Emilia is at the front. "Seems you have found most of what you need, haven''t you?" (Emilia) I just nod as I count how many carts we have. Exactly fifty carts to load materials into. I turn towards Emilia. "Thanks for the assistance. I appreciate it." (Hayden) I would give her a hug but... She is an Empress, I am a scientist. She has guards, I don''t. Honestly, I will never anger an Empress in my life again. Never. Ion is overlooking the state of every cart to make sure they could handle the weight. Two horses per cart to pull the cart. If we load a sensible amount of ores we should be able to carry them here in two trips. We''ll also need some kind of smithery to smelt the ore and then create the things needed for a barrel. "Emilia, another small favor... I need some kind of a smelter and a smith to create barrels for the transport of oil. Can I ask you to handle that whilst I handle the transportation of the materials?" (Hayden) "Of course!" (Emilia) Emilia immediatly turns around and goes into the city and I take the carts and head towards the first mine to gather all those materials. Chapter 30. Transportation. I take a seat in the cart at the forefront and Ion floats next to the driver to start instructing him where to go. I begin studying the language once again. There is this one part which keeps annoying me... But this part is also where the meaning of the entire sentence can change in an instant. You say these few letters in a wrong tone, either you don''t pay attention to them in the word or vice versa, and the meaning can change from I hate you to I want to hunt monsters as Ion told me. I study the language for half an hour before we reach the mine. When we reach the mine all the explorers inside are already outside waiting for us. Ion flies off towards the miners to instruct them how much ore and which types to put into which cart since well... If the ore is too heavy the horses will have a hard time pulling the cart. I climb out of the cart and start heading towards Koro mine to see how far the oil level has risen. When I reach Koro mine with Ion, we see the explorers resting as I told them to. "Ion, can you instruct them to go and help the other explorers put the ores on the carts." (Hayden) Ion flies off while I take a peek into the mine itself. It''s more or less stopped but it seems it is slowly rising still.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. I hear talking behind me and Ion flies next to me. "They said that there are access points to other portions of the mine which the oil is most likely flooding right now instead of having the level of oil over here raised." (Ion) "Thanks for the information." (Hayden) We have most of the needed materials. We still have a lengthy construction process to go through as well... I just want to go to Alicia right now... Nothing else. After a while of observing the oil rising speed, we leave towards the first mine. There are no explorers left to overlook this mine so let''s hope it doesn''t collapse on itself or something... (Author: Foreshadowing alarm is silent. Maybe.) When we reach the ore mine again, we see everybody sitting down. I guess all the ores are in the carts...? Holy hell these guys work fast don''t they? I go down into the mine and half the ores are gone and every other bit is in the middle. I don''t see a sliver of ore anywhere in the walls, roof or floor of the mine either. Now only that''s left is to make barrels, instruct them to gather the oil into the barrels and then go and check on the 3rd and 4th mines and bring the rest of the materials over. I come out of the mine and everybody is ready to make the trip back. I jump on the cart at the forefront of the convoy-like thing we have going on here and Ion instructs the driver to start heading back. Half an hour passes again as I study the language while sitting in the cart. At the gates there is Emilia with a few other people waiting for us. I jump out as Ion floats near me. (Author: Just to make sure, Ion''s telling Emilia what Hayden is saying and same with Emila towards Hayden.) "Who are these?" (Hayden) I look at the people lined up and most of them seem to have a strong body. "Two smelters and two smiths. The smelters are in a Mentor-student type of deal and same with the smiths." (Emilia) I look towards Ion. "Where is a bit of our aluminium ore located? Just enough for barrels." (Hayden) "The third cart." (Ion) I nod as I head towards the third cart. Soon... Soon we''ll be done with this blasted gathering of ores and other materials... Then I can finally go and see Alicia after well... Building the chopper. Since I won''t be going anywhere without one. Chapter 31. Finishing the gathering. I signal the smelters and smiths to come to the third cart and they do so. I point at the aluminium and show a barrel which I drew on the paper in every view possible. They ask me something and I look towards Ion. "They asked if you want them to create this keg-like thing." (Ion) "Tell them yes but it is not a keg but a barrel for holding important liquids." (Hayden) Ion tells them what I want and then they start taking the aluminium into small wooden carts and heading off. (Author: The small wooden carts are just like wheelbarrows but not. They are those carts in Wild West movies which usually have a haystack on them. The big carts are actually more like carriages.) These are Emilia''s handpicked people so I trust them to craft the barrels right but just in case... "Ion, go and assist them. We''ll all be waiting here until they get back with enough barrels to carry enough fuel for the helicopter." (Hayden) Ion flies off and I sit down near the first cart as the others unload all the ore we have to the side where a ton of guards are. Half a day passes until I hear the gates open once more and I see small wooden carts with aluminium barrels in them coming out and Ion flying around.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. "The barrels are finished." (Ion) I stand up and help put the barrels in the carriages. After we finish the preperations we head over to the Koro mine to start putting the oil in the barrels and get the other two mines emptied as well. Half an hour later we reach Koro mine and the oil level has stopped rising. I show them a way to gather the oil without wasting too much of it but it will take a while since I''m using a small wooden cup to do it which I was using to drink from before. The other explorers understand what I''m doing and grab their other cups which they don''t use to drink yet but they are basically back-ups. Why did they use their back-ups? Since Ion told them to. I see them filling up the barrels without getting themselves too dirty and then Ion and I head off to the third mine. It takes three fourths of an hour to get there and when we do arrive all the explorers are outside drinking and laughing. "Ion, ask them if they are finished with mining." (Hayden) Ion asks them and a few of them nod and some probably shout yes. "I think you can gather what they answered but the answer is yes." (Ion) "Tell them to get as much of the ore as possible and head towards Koro mine and that the rest of the ore will be transported later when the oil is in the barrels." (Hayden) I start heading towards the fourth mine after Ion tells them what to do and the same thing happens there. Nothing suprising, just explorers drinking and laughing, us arriving telling them what to do, them doing it. When we got back to Koro mine the barrels are all full and all the explorers are here and all but four carts are filled. "Ion, tell them we are going to the third and fourth mine to gather up the remaining ore and fill the carts and then head back towards the capital." (Hayden) Ion tells them that and we do just that. Fill the carts and then head towards the capital where the smiths are waiting. Chapter 32. Creating the helicopter. After we reach the capital we immediatly had the smiths start working after I helped them understand what they are building through the power of paper! Ion''s currently doing the most important bit of this journey: Creating the fuel. Without fuel we won''t fly. If we don''t fly the helicopter is useless. If the helicopter is useless we can''t get to where we want. I had the smiths create the engine first as it is one of the more... Difficult parts to create. I don''t know how this process happened in the past but we are doing it wrong probably. We''re creating the interior in different parts and trying to put them together and then put the exterior around it. There are a lot of rubber pipes and tubes and such which are the most important part but at first I thought that would be where we fail until it comes out... Rubber exists but these people had no clue of what to do with it. It wasn''t edible, you couldn''t use it for holding drink or food, you couldn''t build with it. Useless to them right? Luckily the capital is exactly near the perfect forest for rubber trees to grow. It won''t be that useless in the future once their technology heightens. So they just have tons of rubber trees still in the forests around, all I had to do was go into specific parts of a forest and I have rubber! Well latex actually but still half-way to rubber!Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. I had to literally stand there for hours waiting for the latex to slowly get down to the plastic cups I had made for this was painful to be honest. My entire first day was spent gathering latex for rubber and most of the second as well. I just sat down and watched the smith''s create the engine exactly like I told them and then start creating the helicopter itself. Ion''s going to be the ''welding tool'' since Ion''s laser is precise and it''s heat can be changed when needed. It took us 14 days, just as I had calculated, to actually build the helicopter. The first five or so days were actually just building the many different components and having Ion create the rubber, fuel and other things which we couldn''t right now. (Author: ACCEPT IT! I can''t bother to find some sort of complicated answer to this so let''s just say Ion became an all-powerful creation tool for now. Now, ACCEPT THAT FACT. I just want to get to the "ADVENTURE AND SCIENCE" part!) When we started to build the copter, getting the wiring in the right place was the most difficult thing to do and that''s why it took so long. If the wiring even fell by a quarter of a meter it would actually be quite bad so we had to constantly have people hold up the wiring in the right position until it was melded into place with the exterior plates. Basically somebody had to hold up a wire for hours while two people put the plate into place and Ion welded it and even then some people had to hold things up. I was completely useless to be honest. The butlers and maids were quite certain that I just needed to rest and let them do the hard work for me as it is their job. So I was kinda forced to sit down and look as the butlers and maids and other helpers ran around as Ion commanded them to. Right now we are in the middle of the various tests such as seeing if the helicopter will actually fly. For short, yes. It does fly and it does so perfectly. All the tests resulted in an OK from Ion and we could finally set off on our journey! After we packed all of the stuff on the helicopter... Which is going to take a while to be honest. We also need solar panels which are currently in construction under Ion''s guidance again. Well at least soon we can see Alicia. Chapter 33. Farewell. As most of the helicopter is complete I am out of a job right now. Ion''s handling the final parts, namely the solar panels and packing stuff on the helicopter. I decided to go and say my goodbyes to the Empress and the others since I will not be seeing them for a while again. I left the construction site and went straight for the throne room. When I walked through the streets all attention was on me since people sometimes came to check what all the noise was and found me commanding people to build something. Well it was Ion doing the talking me showing where to put things without actually opening my mouth once. While building the helicopter I also got some more knowledge of the language as the builders were also communicating with eachother. I also had Ion''s help learning the language while we had nothing to do. Our helicopter construction site was near the keep of the citadel but also far enough from the keep that we could get help from the lower levels of the city. We had a bit of money to give out to people willing to help build the helicopter. I reach the entrance to the throne room and before I enter I look around to see how many guards are here. There are a few but not as many as usual... They might be guarding the construction site but I didn''t notice any guards on my way here...Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Well, it''s not my problem right now so... I open the doors to the throne room and enter. Emilia is sitting on the throne with maids and butlers near her waiting for commands. I walk closer to her and then bow down as should be. She is the Empress of the country I''ve been getting resources from after all. "Emilia. I shall be leaving for quest to find my sister. I will not be seeing you for a while so farewell. I hope to introduce my sister to you one day." (Hayden in the language of the Empire) And that''s the only sentence which I can say without it being definetly broken. I look at Emilia and she seems sad but kind of joyful. She tells me to get up and I notice it because of the hand movements she made. I do a small bow and leave after she doesn''t say anything for a while. I look back before actually leaving the throne room but she just waves goodbye while having a sorrowful face. I won''t be away for forever so she''ll just have to find something or somebody to occupy her mind since I know she''s thinking of me right now. I slowly start heading back to the construction site while having prying eyes looking at me everywhere. Well... Most of the people I''m passing right now are aristocrats who were in the ball and saw me sitting right next to the Empress and know who I am. When I reach the construction site it is basically empty except for Ion floating around it performing final checks on it. "Everything is good to go. We have enough fuel for a round trip and then to the island again. Food and water for half a year. Necessary paper for... Human needs. We are all set and ready to go. I also know the course to the island as I have calculated it. Also the fuel also counts the fuel we use to light the way while flying at night." (Ion) I enter the helicopter. "What are we waiting for then?" (Hayden) I turn the helicopter on and it''s rotors slowly start spinning. People suddenly gather near the helicopter but far enough not to get hit by it. I guess the sound and wind brought them here. Ion''s ''sitting'' in the co-pilots seat but we specialized it for Ion so he can control the helicopter as well when something happens to me for some reason. Almost no wind up in the air, it''s starting to get dark and it''s perfect for us right now. "Time to set off!" (Hayden) I pull the helicopter off the ground and we start flying as the people down below stare in disbelief of us actually flying. I take a course towards... Alicia. Chapter 34. Flight. I take a look at the night sky as we fly above the trees towards Alicia. An hour ago we started flying from the capital of the Empire and everything is going well. Ion''s constantly scanning the surface for any... Anomalies. "We have 10 and a half hours of moonlight remaining until the sun comes up and we can gather samples." (Ion) I nod and look below us and I notice there''s a shadow following the helicopter''s route. A small, fast-moving entity... Let''s hope it tires before we land since it will be troublesome to catch. Seems Ion''s noticed it as well. It''s been relatively peaceful flying through the night with the exception of a few... Weird screeches. Probably a native forest animal. So many samples to take when day-time comes, honestly...Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! There is a small mountain to our right that might be home to the being that makes the screeches... They do come from that general direction after all. We fly for hours until the sun starts coming up, absoloutely nothing but those screeches followed us into this landing site because the entity following us dissapeared. It didn''t stop moving, we would''ve picked it up. It just... Vanished. We land the helicopter in the forest where there is a convinient clearing. I start setting up the fence and the solar panels whilst Ion scans the zone near us and gathers as much data as possible. Once I''ve set up everything I start gathering samples about the biology of this place. It''s... Diverse to put it simply. More diverse than any other spot on the planet I''ve seen so far. Flying above it, it seems just one tree dominating everything. Inside the forest, you''ll notice that there are many different types of trees. Just the leaves are almost the same but the bark of the tree varies and the life of the bugs inside it varies as well. I don''t have the advanced machinery to properly examine the DNA down to it''s very core and such of the trees and plant life but I do have Ion and some basic tools to get a simplstic understanding of it. We''re going to be staying here for a day and we''ll be setting off the instant the sun starts going down since all the necessary equipment will be filled back up. I look around the forest but I don''t see a single mammal or other animal coming here. They must''ve been scared by the loud noise of the helicopter but we''ll be staying here for a while so there''s a chance something might come. Luckily we have a gate and the off switch for the electricity fence which Ion had built. Now... Just to wait. Chapter 35. Samples. "I have found no living beings near us that could be a threat. Mostly because there are no living beings anywhere near us." Ion says while flying around the fence. (No living beings... I hope some of them come near us though. I want to... test... a few things.) "I''ll go and get some samples of the tree barks and grass. I''ll deactivate the fence otherwise I would get shocked." I say while heading towards the switch to turn it off. I switch off the electricity and head outside the fence and start gathering samples of trees, plants, some dirt and so on. It takes me about an hour to gather it all and head back inside. I switch on the electricity and place the samples on the ground and then I go and get my scientists kit. "Ion, keep an eye out for anything coming this way. I''m going to see what these are made of and if they are made of the same cells as our plant life back home." I say to Ion whilst taking out a petri dish and a microscope. Ion goes to the tip of the helicopter and I start looking through the microscope. "The dirt has mostly the same composition... But there is some weird bacteria in it as well. It''s not replicating fast or moving or doing... Anything. It''s like a dead bacteria but there''s so much of it..." I say to myself out loud.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! I put the dirt to the side and take out a small piece of a bark of wood. "Everything''s the same... All except the same type of bacteria is still inactive here as well... It kind of seems like it''s tying together bits of the wood, which normally would be seperate." I, again, say to myself. I keep examining bark after bark, leaf after leaf, all from different barked trees or different plants. There are alterations in the cells but the same bacteria is there. Is it something unique to this area or... Is it spread in the whole world? I''ll only know once I''ve gathered samples from the whole world, won''t I? I put the microscope and petri dishes away since I''ve looked through them all. "Ion, anything?" I ask Ion in hopes of even one animal being near here. "No. It seems they don''t want to come near us, at all." Ion answers while scanning the area again. I sigh in dissapointment as I really wanted to see the local wildlife of this area. (Well, there''s nothing I can do to change the caution of the wildlife around these parts.) I start putting the samples in cannisters to store them so I can properly examine them sometime later. After I''ve done that I just sit down on the edge of the helicopter and wait for the day to pass and something to happen. Every once in a while I think I caught a glimpse of something but I''m not sure. (Ion''s scans didn''t pick anything up so what am I seeing? Illusions? But it''s too early for those to appear...) The day is at it''s end and we start packing up. Ion made sure there are no animals anywhere near us by scanning the area in detail. Once everything is packed up we start setting off and the moment I turn everything on I felt like something is looking at us and I immediatly turned my head behind us but saw nothing. We set off from the ground and start flying towards Alicia but I can''t shake the feeling like something is following us again. Chapter 36. The Ravine. (We''ve been flying for four days with pauses at day time and we''ve finally reached it...) I stare in disbelief at the Grand Canyon of this world. "Where''s the bottom of this thing Ion? I can''t see it." I ask Ion since I literally cannot see it. "It''s way past. It''s about half of the recorded size of the Mariana Trench from Earth. This comparison was the most accurate I could bring out since it seems the ravine still goes deeper but it''s too thin for even a human to fall down. You''ll just get stuck there." Ion replies after scanning the whole ravine or trying to at least. (This one ravine is going to give me a lot of things to research, ain''t it? Luckily it seems the ravine is just very long both ways but not quite wide.) I start setting up the fence but just as I was finishing up something jumped through. "So you are the Hayden I''ve been told to deliver this message to huh... Do you know how fast you were flying away?! It was hard keeping track of you! The only pauses I got were in the day time when you weren''t flying away but even then I couldn''t catch up until now!" Says the being that is seemingly a fairy.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. It flies around a bit then lands on my shoulder. "Now listen closesly. This is important. DO NOT forget this alright?! I can''t bother to track you guys again. It''s troublesome. Ok here''s the message... ''Hayden, Human from another world. We welcome you to this one. You have probably come here through the Divine Summoning''s but yours was kind of... Different. So we, the humans of this world, invite you to visit us. You should know where to find us. We have answers to your questions. Even to the bacteria. Also excuse the arrogance of this fairy. She thinks you are just another fake whilst we know differently. You do not need to make haste over to us, find your sister first and fulfill your promise to the new Empress. Then come here.'' There! That''s the message! And what arrogance! Honestly... Well I''m going to go now. I have more important things to do!" Says the fairy really fast. (I lost track of what she said and theere she goes. She really was honest about leaving.) The fairy flies away at high speeds. "I have recorded the message into my database. And the fact that the fairy had been following us for a while and I hadn''t noticed. Updating scanners to pick up ethereal objects and other small objects which are ghost-like." Ion tells me whilst updating his scanners, as he said. (They did say I wasn''t in any rush to get there so... I''ll take them up on their offer. Luckily we won''t have anything following us anymore.) I hear some rustling in the bushes and the fairy comes out again. "I forgot to mention. The Empress put a tracker on you, I took it off since the lords said to. Bye bye then." The fairy flies off again. (Ok... Good to know...) I start doing the usual, finish setting up the fence, take out my tools, get some samples, look at the samples, be dissapointed because there is nothing new in them, throw out the samples and head off again. Chapter 37. Glowing. As we fly through the night nothing exciting happens until the sun starts coming up. (What... Is that?) I spot a glowing spot in the distance. "Ion, we''re going over there. I won''t directly land there but near it. It seems interesting and the sun is coming up as well." I steer the helicopter over to the direction of the glowing and land near it. When we get closer to it I notice that it is actually slowly moving away from us. I land a bit infront of it in a small clearing and immediatly set up the fence while Ion scans the surroundings. "We have to act fast to get the samples from it. The glowing didn''t let me see what it was but did you get anything Ion?" I ask Ion. "No. The glowing was blocking all my sensors as well. I couldn''t get a read on anything." Ion answers as he comes out of the bushes. (So an anomaly? Something even Ion cannot scan?) I finish setting up the fence and I grab my set for gathering dna samples. "I''m going to go and try to get some samples, you stay here and scan for any hostile entities." I say to Ion as I head towards the light. I push my way through shrubbery and a forest of trees until I see it... "What in the name of the Sol System is that!?" I shout out of amazement. (A turtle!? With a tree?! On it''s back?! And the turtle is bigger than a hill! Nevermind the tree that''s huge as well!) The turtle looks at me and changes it''s course and comes towards me, slowly. It stops right infront of me and seemingly looks around me. (So, It is an anomaly to me whilst I am an anomaly to it.)The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. After a while of us two looking at eachother a tiger jumps from the tree and comes towards me. I grab my gun but still keep it hidden. The tiger sniffs the air around me and then starts sniffing me. It then jumps back onto the back of the turtle and the turtle turns back into it''s original direction and starts moving again. (What in the name of... Why didn''t that tiger attack me?) I put the gun back into it''s holster and take out my kit. (Now... Should I try to get a piece of DNA from this thing... It''s quite dangerous looking how a tiger is sleeping on it''s back. I kind of want to get some DNA from the tree as well but... That can wait.) I slowly walk towards the turtle''s leg and quickly take a blood sample and run. (A minimal amount... But enough. The turtle hasn''t stopped though... The blood is glowing as well?) I head back to the helicopter after grabbing a piece of dirt from the spot the turtle walked on. When I reach the helicopter the turtle is on the small clearing with us and is looking at the helicopter. I jump into the fenced area and turn on the electricity. I grab my other kits in the same moment. "Hayden. What is that?" Ion asks me while scanning the turtle while the turtle isn''t doing anything. "Why ask me? I don''t know either. All I know is that it is curious and the tiger on it''s back is docile until angered probably. I''m trying to find out where the glow is coming from though..." I answer Ion while looking at the glowing blood of the turtle. (The same bacteria... But they''re active. Very active. It''s like they''re tiny tiny ants in this blood... They are also growing the brightest in the blood.) The turtle has already passed the helicopter and Ion got a scan on it. "This turtle... My scans can''t tie it with any of the known species of turtle we have in ALL our databases. It''s... A completely new species." Ion says in a kind of excited voice. I put the blood in a glass vial and I see that when more sunlight shines on the blood, the less it glows. (It isn''t because the sunlight is eating up the light... It''s more like they''re slowing down... When I put it into a dark corner they start becoming active again. Guess I shouldn''t let sunlight shine on this thing at all. Maybe that''s why all those other sample... No, that isn''t the reason. Otherwise this planet would glow in the night but it doesn''t. This turtle has secrets. Secrets I want to know.) Half a day passes while I try to figure out why some parts of this bacteria glow while other parts don''t. The turtle has already gone away from our eyesight. The dirt the turtle stepped on had only slightly active bacteria, it wasn''t glowing as strong as the blood. (That turtle is a mystery. A completely blank spot which I want to fill in.) Night time arrives as we pack up and leave. When we fly up in the air I catch a glimpse of the glowing tree and turtle. It''s heading in a different direction than us. "I''ll find you again someday, mystery turtle tree thing. I''ll find you again." I say in a slightly menacing tone. Chapter 38. Within our view. I fly for three more days after the meeting with the glowing tree turtle. "Scans indicate an ocean infront of us, our destination should be within our sight soon." Ion tells me as I look around for a landing spot as day time is approaching. (Where is a landing spot... I can''t see any....) "Fly for two more kilometers, the beach is there." Ion instructs me and I do so. I fly for two kilometers and set the heli down on the beach, just as Ion said. "That... Looks amazing. Ion can you take a few pictures?" I ask Ion so he would take pictures of the sun coming up. As the sunlight reaches us more and more I start seeing something, an island. (Our destination, I presume. In this time of day it looks majestic.) "Our destination is in our view now. Scans indicate a powerful fleet guarding the close proximity of the island and a few flying entities, which aren''t wild animals, flying above it in a pattern." Ion returns after scanning the destination from afar. "How shall we get onto the island peacefully... Shall we just try to approach the biggest boat? Oh wait... We can''t speak their language anyways... Overhead and straight onto the island? No... They''ll discover the helicopter quite fast. The safest bet is hope that Alicia can save us when I land straight into the middle of the huge castle right there." I contemplate what we should do out loud whilst putting up the fence. Ion scans the surroundings, as usual. I finish setting up the fence and sit down on the beach looking at the island. "One wrong move and I''ll be a wanted man... I don''t know their customs, their language, their way of thinking but I do know they have Alicia in their kingdom. The unknowns weigh out the knowns. An evening visit should give us time to escape if Alicia can''t save us fast enough or doesn''t have enough power to stop us from getting killed... Yeah... Ion come over here for a second." I order Ion around a bit and he follows the order, "Ion, I thought if we ''invade'' the castle courtyard at evening or even night we have a chance of escaping and the courtyard is most likely where Alicia could be at if she''s given even a sliver of freedom. I''ll keep my pistols on hand at all times just in case. Does that sound good?"You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Ion flies around a bit, calculating the percentage of success and the choices that we can take, probably. A few minutes pass as Ion''s systems try to find if my plan of action is good. "It''s good enough, at least it''s the safest. It could work perfectly but also fail miserably. The chances of success are around 70% depending on the weather, 65% if it''s not cloudy, 75% if it''s cloudy and raining. Now we just need to wait for night." Ion finally accepts my plan. I go into the helicopter and take a look at our supplies. (All are around 75% remaining... The fuel''s around 60% by the looks of things. Enough to safely ride back to the Empire and then refuel and restock for the trip to this world''s humans.) I take a look at the samples I''ve gathered and held onto. (The blood is glowing which is good, all the other samples are in a stagnant state as well, seemingly haven''t changed since I picked them up.) I sit down on the edge of the helicopter and I notice a patrol boat coming straight towards us. "Ion, see that?" I ask Ion and Ion immediatly scans it. "Intelligent beings, brain activity shows they are coming here with confusion, not anger. Most likely non-hostile. Still advise caution." Ion immediatly answers me after scanning the patrol boat. (I say patrol boat but... That ain''t a patrol boat. It''s a rowing boat with people that look like they are from the military. The technology is severely lacking in this world but that I figured out the instant people used magic.) The boat suddenly stops and the men aboard look at us but are probably scared to come any closer. I see that there are more and more of the boats coming towards us but stopping near the location of the first one. "A blockade? I''m guessing they have no idea how we appeared here all of a sudden and think that this machine right next to me is a boat. Too bad it''s the complete oppsite of a boat." I say whilst trying to hold back my laughter. This stalemate of me looking at them and them looking at me lasts until night arrives. The guards switched quite often but the blockade remained. "Let''s start heading up. Ion, anything to blind them for a short bit? Like a flashbang?" I ask Ion as I don''t want them to understand what we are doing. I start packing up and once everything is finished Ion flies infront of the boats and I turn on the rotors and everything else. "Now!" I shout to Ion who releases a short scanning light blast straight into the face of all the guards and flies into the seat next to me. I immediatly set off and fly slightly below the clouds so I''m hidden from their sight until I land again. The guards beneath start rowing back to their fleet, which is made out of wood and iron, mostly wood. "Alicia, here I come." I say as I slowly start descending from the sky towards the biggest castle on the island. --- Information Transmission --- The Kingdom on the Island is literally what it is. A kingdom on an island. It''s official name is the Kingdom on the Island in every known language, even it''s own. The Kingdom on the Island owns one island and most of the ocean around it. The island it is on is massive, comparable to half of Earth''s Australia if it was fully habitable. The Kingdom has over 60 million people living on it, most of the population is within a 100 km radius of the Keep of the Capital. The Kingdom on the Island has, by the most recent statistics, the largest navy and strongest navy but one of the weakest land military. The Kingdom''s Royalty consists of the Highest Family, The King and the Queen, The Middle Family, the Princesses and the Princes, The Lowest Family, the other royalty and aristocrats. --- Information Transmission Ended --- Chapter 39. Alicia. I land straight in the middle of the courtyard, just as planned. Several different doors open and people run out, maids, butlers, soldiers, guards. (Guess I should go outside otherwise they might start to hit the helicopter.) I open one of the sidedoors and go out through the back, revealing myself to everybody. "Alicia! Is Alicia anywhere here!?" I shout as loudly as possible for the slighest chance Alicia heard it. One of the guards seemingly took that as an act of hostility and is running towards me with his spear aimed at my chest. "Idiot, when somebody calmly lands here it means they also have weapons." I say whilst sighing and then I take out my gun and shoot right past the guards ear, making him instantly stop and fall back. "Ion, can you scan for Alicia?" I ask Ion so the process would be slightly faster. "Already doing it, so far to the left of us, no sign of her. I do locate specks of DNA 100% identical to hers around the building. The chance of her being here is unbelievably high." Ion answers whilst continuing to scan. (So she definetly is here. But she wasn''t in the courtyard. Well... Let''s get some more attention shall we?) "Alicia!" I shout at the top of my lungs, making sure that most of this side of the keep heard it. The number of people surrounding me increases with each second. (Alicia better show up and soon, otherwise I''m dead. Really dead.) --- POV Change to Alicia ---You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. "Alicia!" I instantly jump the moment I hear somebody shout my name. (Nobody except the Princess calls me Alicia... But that was a man''s... No... It can''t be...) I instantly put on some clothes and run outside. "Alicia!" It... It must be him! "Hayden!" I shout back. --- Back to Hayden --- "Hayden!" I suddenly hear my name being called as well. (Yes! She''s here!) "Ion, go to her. Now." I order Ion around a bit whilst going closer to the helicopter "With joy." Ion flies off immediatly and after a minute or so, he returns with... Alicia. "Alicia!" I shout and walk closer whilst keeping my pistols aimed at the surrounding crowd. "Hayden!" She shouts and runs towards me. The surrounding crowd is in complete shock as Alicia runs into my stomach and hugs me. "It... It really is you... Big Bro..." She says to me whilst crying. I put away one of my guns and pat her on the head but I keep the other aimed at the crowd, no matter what. "Indeed it is me, Alicia. I can finally see you again." I keep patting her head whilst she is crying. "I know this is a touching moment but it seems the heavy knights are coming in. And some flying objects. So..." Ion flies into the helicopter. (They just have to ruin a reunion of a brother and sister huh?) I start walking towards the helicopter. "Brother, wait. I want to introduce you to some friends I made whilst being here. You must be quite tired as well right? Just stay here for a few days? I also want to say goodbye properly..." Alicia asks of me. (How can I refuse that? There is no way I can refuse that.) "Alright. We''ll stay. But they better not touch the helicopter, it took quite a bit of effort to build." I say in a calm tone and put away my other pistol. --- Meanwhile, in another place, possibly a mountain. --- "The Irregularity has met with his sister?" A figure asks from the shadows. "Yes. Yes he has. This sets in motion all the gears needed. We actually might survive this time around." Answers another figure, who is also in the shadows. All of the men in the room are looking at a mirror which is showing Ion flying around the Helicopter and Alicia hugging Hayden whilst the royal family walks towards them. "So... I''ve been out of the loop for a while... Alicia, or the girl as all of you want to say, is the Regularity. The being supposed to appear in this world. Hayden, or the Irregularity, is a being not supposed to be here but that also makes him the only chance we have?" Asks a gigantic figure. "Yes. This is the best outcome possible and we must put all our effort into keeping it like this. If even more Irregularities appear, it''d be great." Another figure says. Chapter 40. Alicias doings. I follow Alicia through the castle into the keep and I kept getting death stares from all the men around me. As Alicia and I enter the keep, the king stands up and so does the princess. (I doubt I''ll understand anything from this conversation...) --- Alicia''s POV --- "Who is that!? Who have you brought with you!?" The king asks in a panic. "It''s my brother, Hayden." I answer the king and he immediatly sits down on his throne in relief after that. The princess walks towards me with a glee on her face. "Hey tell me... Does Hayden have somebody already?" The Princess immediatly asks me. "None that I know of but I doubt he''ll be marrying somebody anytime soon." I answer with confidence. The Princess returns to her throne with a sad look on her face. (Don''t try to get to my brother through me. It will never happen.) "Well, Alicia. It seems like you two will be sharing a room whilst you are here. Is that ok?" The king asks with a slightly worried tone. "Yes. It will be completely fine!" I, again, answer with absoloute confidence. (If brother sleeps in another room the women might make a move on him! Or the people calling themselves my ''lovers'' might try to kill him!) --- Back to Hayden --- (I... Have not a clue to what they said. First of all... How did Alicia speak their language? I''ve been studying the Empire''s language for Ion knows how long but she understood this kingdom''s language so fast?)You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. "Brother, let us go to our room. Before anybody decides to make a mistake." Alicia tells me whilst staring at the Crown Prince who is obviously, completely mad at me. (What have I done to these people? I''m just her brother, not her lover! I mean, she is cute and all and I suddenly appear and claim that I am her brother... But that doesn''t justify anything.) I follow Alicia to our room and when we walk through the corridor, the butlers and maids clear the path and say something to both of us. "Ion. How far are you with the translations?" I ask Ion who''s been floating around us for the longest time. "Nowhere close enough to even understand a single word. I have no data references to use in deciphering this language." Ion answers immediatly, just as I like my answers. We enter Alicia''s room and I look around. (One grand bed, two couches with a table in between them, fancy everything.) "So, Alicia. There''s one question I want to get out of the way first. How can you speak their language? I''ve been trying to decipher and learn one language for Ion knows how long and I still haven''t fully completed it." I bluntly ask Alicia. "Well... I''ll just tell you the short version of the full story. Basically a few days after you used the device, I was taken away by the signal. Whilst I was in a cylinder of some sorts, I ended up in a place full of light. Nothing else. Just, light. Suddenly infront of me was a goddess-like being who explained to me what this world is and what will happen and what role I play. She also told me what role you play. She helped me study this language before sending me off. She also gave me her blessing but I don''t know what that does." Alicia explains to me. (A goddess? Seriously? Why couldn''t that happen to me also, so I could''ve learned about this world before I was thrown into that civil war!) "I should tell you what happened to me as well then..." I explain to Alicia what I''ve been doing in this world and she listens carefully. We talk for a little while and share our knowledge of this world so we both know a tad bit more. I look out of the huge window and notice the sun is setting. "I guess I''ll sleep on the couch. I can''t take away my little sister''s bed, now can I?" I say with a smile on my face. "No. The bed is big enough for the both of us. It''s big enough for three people actually!" Alicia immediatly refuses my offer. (Has she changed? I feel like she''s changed. She wasn''t this talkative usually. Well It''s good. It''s good that she can change.) In the end we both ended up sleeping in the same bed. Chapter 40.5. Alicia POV. "There he goes, doing things on his own again." Jayd calmly says with a slight sadness in his voice. Jayd laughs a bit and notices I am crying. "Don''t worry. Knowing Hayden the only thing that could kill him is him being the center of a supernova." Jayd says as he takes out a napkin and wipes away my tears. "That''s true. It''s Hayden after all. The only thing bigger than his stubbornness is his toughess." I try to make a few jokes to also lighten up the mood. Everybody slowly starts packing up and leaving the room whilst I stare at the teleporter and remember something. (We forgot!!! We completely forgot in all this mess!!! What about the possibility of landing in SPACE!? What if he landed in space!? Or a hostile enviroment planet!? We didn''t give him an extra oxygen tank or a breathing apparatus!!! Hayden... Please be alright... Please....) I start crying and fall down to the ground, shocking all the scientists around me. Jayd immediatly runs up to me. "What''s wrong?!" Jayd asks in a panic. "We forgot... What if he was sent to space? Or a place with an atmosphere he couldn''t breathe in?" I say whilst crying. Everybody stares at me and then at the teleporter. "Well... Damn." A scientist says in a slightly panicked voice. "It''s all the fault of that damn T.R.I.O.N project. If we didn''t have to rush to start that, we could''ve properly done Hayden''s send-off!" Another scientist says whilst hitting the door with his hand. Suddenly the door opens and the Head Director of Science on the planet enters with a grin on his face. "So Hayden''s gone?" He says while looking at me. (This bastard... He knew but didn''t warn us... He also ordered us to rush the T.R.I.O.N... All because Hayden once shielded me from him...) All the scientists, me and Jayd especially, stare at the Director with extreme anger. (Everybody in this room trusted Hayden with everything, everybody knew Hayden and his brilliance. And this bastard just decided to possibly kill him. He was also the one who decided that Hayden should be sent to investigate the signal... All of this... Was planned by him!) I grabbed a nearby screwdriver and was planning to attack him but Jayd stopped me. "It''s not worth it. It''ll just cause trouble for Hayden if he survives." Jayd tries to calm me down so I wouldn''t do something stupid. Everybody leaves the room at the same time. The Head Director tries to grab me but Jayd interrupts by walking right next to me. I spend the next few days holed up in my room. (I don''t want to see that Director ever again. Until Hayden comes back... Until... Hayden...) I hear the signal in my ears. "No... No no no!" I say my last few words before the Signal grabs me and takes me away. I open my eyes to just see light and which is weirdly shaped like a cylinder. (What''s... Going on? I can''t move my body... But my body is being pulled?) Suddenly the light gets brigher and I close my eyes. The next thing I know, I see huge pillars and a pagoda. "Ah. You are here." A figure walks out of the pagoda. The figure walks towards me slowly but I feel the urge to bow down grow with each step. "Do you know how long I''ve been trying to summon you? So many innocents had to be send as heroes to other world''s and when I finally got your location... Your brother stopped me! Like seriously, who does that?" The figure says in a slightly annoyed tone. "Well. At least you are here. Ah... It seems you''re under the influence of my powers, let me handle that." The figure walks up to me and kisses my forehead. Suddenly, the darkness of the figure dissapears and a beautiful lady in golden clothes appears. The urge to bow down also dissapears. "Now you see me. Hey, are you awake? Say something. Please. I don''t want to waste even more time trying to wake you up. Your brother''s already messing up the timeline! Like, he hasn''t even been there for a week yet but he is completely messing up the timeline! How am I supposed to fix that?!" She gets even angrier when she mentions my brother whilst looking at a model of a planet which the pillars are holding up. "My... Brother? Hayden? He''s alive!? Hayden''s alive?!" I ask in a careful but happy tone.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. "Ah! You spoke! Yes he is alive! Ok. Get yourself together Puulla! This is the moment, Puulla!" She slaps herself on the cheeks a few times before turning to me. "Ok. So... Here''s the deal. I summoned you so you could go and save that planet up there. BUT, your brother is now on that planet. And he''s messing everything up... Luckily in a good way so far. He''s lessening the amount of people who are going to die. BUT, you are still needed there. Now, to control your brother. I can see the future of this planet and at the pace he is going... Even if he doesn''t realise it.... He is going to have the entire damn planet dance at his fingertips because of people falling in love with him one by one! You need to go and stop it. Also... Brother and sister love isn''t bad on my planet so you got that going for you. You understand your job?" She asks in a very serious tone. "Yes. I do." I answer in an equally serious tone. "Aha, now we''re getting somewhere. I''m going to send you... Over here." She says while pointing at a large island. "This Island will shelter you until Hayden gets to you, which he will in some time. When he arrives, keep him there for a few days even. I need to get some stuff done on the mainland and if he''s there... He is going to definetly botch things up. After that, Hayden will know what to do and where. Since my Humanity Race will assist him. Now... I''ll send you off." She waves bye as a light appears and engulfs me. "Oh yeah I forgot to say. I gave you my blessing so look out!" She shouts so I barely hear it. The next thing I see, is also a huge room with stone pillars. "Aha, the summoning is a success! The Goddess''s wish has been completed." A man in very priest-like clothes says to everybody in the room. "Indeed... What was the next part of the wishes?" A man in king-like clothes asks. "Helping her out until somebody comes and picks her up. That''s the Goddess''s exact words." The Priest says again. "Thank you, Your Most Holiness, Pope Vinconcin." The King says to the Pope and walks towards me. "It is nothing, Your Greatness, King Lui. I am merely fulfilling the wishes of the Goddess." The Pope says as he moves towards the door. The King looks at me. "You should do as a fine fiance¨¦ for my son, the Crown Prince Zak. Your Most Holiness, the Goddess didn''t say anything about marrying her into my family, now did she?" The King asks the Pope. "No. But I advise you not to do so. The Goddess warned us that the being coming here will be powerful and will take her away regardless of what you try to do. So It''s entirely possible that this entity will love her." The Pope answers in a serious tone and with clear disgust towards the King. The King laughs out loud and somebody barges into the room. "Papa! I heard my Fiance¨¦ has been summoned!" Zak says in an excited voice. (Why are they deciding everything? Hayden''s going to come and take me away anyways! Wait.. How can I understand them? I shouldn''t be able to since this is a different world...) The Pope suddenly strikes his staff against the wall, getting the attention of everybody. "Goddess''s send, will you come with us? Instead of that corrupt royal family. If you come with us, the royal family cannot touch you." The Pope asks me. (It seems safer. I don''t want to be engaged to anybody without Hayden''s approval. Ever.) I go towards the Pope and the King seems powerless to stop me. "Papa! Stop her! She''s mine right? You told me she''s mine right!" The Crown Prince screams. "Please, take me away. Without Hayden''s approval I will never be engaged to anybody." I say in a cold tone to the Pope so the royal family hears. (As I said. Hayden''s approval is like my entire family and my ancestors approving. Without that, I will never. Ever. Engage myself to somebody.) I walk away with the Pope. "Umm... Your Most Holiness..." I try to ask the pope some questions. "Just call me Vinconcin. The Goddess sent you so you are more favored by the goddess than me." The Pope interrupts. "Alright... Vinconcin. Why are you helping me? Why can I understand everything? And why did they try to marry me into their family?" I ask three questions at the same time. "I am helping you since our Church, The Church of the Goddess, is under the command of the Most Holy and Gracious Goddess Puulla. She asked us to shelter you from the dangers of this world. You can probably understand everything because of Puulla''s most gracious blessing. And about that royal family... We cannot purge them from these lands even though we wish we could. The Goddess hasn''t directly ordered us to purge their cruel souls so we must stand by and watch. They try to marry any powerful person into their family or try to take them away by force. All of them are spoilt by the Devil''s Powers. Luckily, in this Kingdom, we have more power than them so they cannot harm us. At all. Anything else you wish to ask?" Vinconcin answers all my questions in a calm tone. "One thing... Where are you taking me?" I ask the final question I want to for now. "To the Papacy. To the safety of the Church where only I can command people. It''s not far. The Papacy and the Castle are one and that''s why we have so much power. I shall have only women help you since it seems the Goddess''s blessing also made you irresistable in the eyes of every man who hasn''t had their hearts tested by the Goddess." He says while pointing towards the soldiers who stare at me with wide eyes. I ask no more questions and we finally reach the Papacy. (It''s even more grand than the rest of this castle... Even more than the Planet Mayor''s Palace.) I stare in disbelief. "You shall be guided to your room. My most trusted soldiers, which are female, shall keep you accompanied at all times in case the King tries anything. You do not need to fear anything in the walls of the Papacy. Our defence force is stronger than the rest of the castle by far since we have the power of the Goddess on our side." Vinconcin says as six guards walk up to me and bow. Vinconcin leaves and the guards take off their helmets. All of them truly are women. "So you are the person chosen by the Goddess. I am glad to be under your service." One of the guards says and everybody says nearly the same thing one after another. They escort me to a room which had 7 beds. "This will be your and our room until the being comes and picks you up. We hope to get to you know you well during that time so... We could possibly come with you. We became the Six Holy Guards just for the goal of guarding you after all. The Goddess whispered into our ears during our childhood that we must. So we did. We should get introductions out of the way as well." One of the guards says as they all line up. "My name is Laurette. I am the First Guard. The Captain." Laurette says as she bows down once again. "My name is Brenelle. I am the Second Guard. The Vice-Captain." Brenelle does the same as Laurette. "My name is Yofie. I am the Third Guard. The Tactician." Yofie copies Brenelle. "My name is Daphiel. I am the Fourth Guard. The Logician." Daphiel copies Yofie. "My name is Esther. I am the Fifth Guard. The Shield." Esther copies Daphiel. "My name is Lailah. I am the Sixth Guard. The Spear." Lailah copies Esther. (Esther has only a shield... But it''s Huge! It''s the size of a door! Well... A tad larger. And Lailah''s spear is longer than anything I''ve seen...) "We all are under your service!" They all say at the same time. "Thank you. My name is Alicia Igbhan. I shall be depending on you a lot." I say happily. They all get up at the same time. "We did it! Perfectly! Our training was worth it!" They all jumped and hugged eachother. That was the end of my first but eventful day. (I''m impressed I could handle this much... But I feel like my brain''s going to pop out... How am I supposed to explain this all to Hayden!? Eh... I have time. I can introduce the girls to him.) I fall asleep in the middle of the room and the Six Guards are forming a circle of beds around me. Chapter 41. Meeting the Six. I wake up after a very peaceful sleep. (I think this was the first time in... A week or two...? That I got to sleep.) I look around and notice Alicia''s already up and running around doing things. "This is rare... You waking up before me." I say to Alicia as I get up from the bed. "Well, you DID sleep like a rock. I tried to wake you up but it didn''t work. At all. I was just trying to find a candle to hold near your feet to wake you up." Alicia quickly answers and comes towards me. (Candle by the feet? Who uses that method? I have never heard of it...) "Well, who or what do you want to introduce to me today?" I ask Alicia since I have no idea what to do here. The moment I ask that Alicia''s face turns into the biggest smile I''ve seen. "My six guards." Alicia tells me whilst almost running out of the room. I follow Alicia around the entire building while she tries to find the ''Six Guards'' she mentioned. "Where are they!? Just when I need them most they dissapear..." Alicia turns towards me with her face down and I can see that she is very sad. "We said that we would always be near you. You don''t need to find us, just shout for us." Somebody says and comes out from behind the pillar in the middle of the room we stopped in. "Laurette! Finally I found one of you! Where are the others?" Alicia runs to the woman and grabs her hands. "They are in the training grounds. You know... The one specially for us?" The woman answers Alicia''s question and then turns her head towards me. She grabs her sword on her waist. "Stop! This is my brother! The one I was always talking about!" Alicia shouts the moment she notices Laurette''s hostility towards me. She puts her hands near her helmet and takes it off, showing me her face. "Well, In that case.... We should really get to the others. I bet they wanna see the Legendary Heroic Brother you were talking about." The woman keeps talking with Alicia. (To this day, I have no idea what they are talking about. Ion''s floating around the Helicopter, making sure no sabotages are done, so I can''t rely on him either.) Alicia grabs my left hand and the woman the other and they start pulling me somewhere. After a few minutes of them pulling me, they finally stop. The woman opens the door and I see five people fighting eachother. "Girls! The Legendary Brother is here! We need to introduce ourselves!" The woman shouts something to the others and they immediatly stop and sprint over to me. They all take off their helmets and turn to me. They take turns introducing themselves to me but since I can''t understand anything, I relied on Alicia''s translations. "From right to left... Laurette, Brenelle, Yofie, Daphiel, Esther, Lailah... Right?" I ask Alicia to confirm If I put the right person with the right name. She nods and starts talking with the six or it seems more like she''s explaining something to them. She then runs towards me with a glee on her face.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. "Brother! It seems like they want to see what you can do. First, a contest of accuracy then a contest of strength and finally a contest of skill. Are you alright with this?" She looks at me with puppy eyes. (Don''t... Torture... Me... With those puppy eyes...) I just nod in defeat to the puppy eyes. Alicia shouts something to the women and they all quickly grab bows. "Accuracy contest right. That means I can use this, right?" I ask Alicia as I grab my gun. Alicia nods so I bring it to the range. The six fire first and hit their targets more or less straight in the region of the heart and head. "The gun is way more accurate than the bow so... Sorry." I bow to the women and then shoot all six targets straight in the two important parts. The head, straight between the eyes, and the body, straight where the heart is. The women stare in disbelief at me and the weapon I am holding. I walk to Alicia and hand her my guns. "The next contest is the strength one, right? I won''t need these." I explain to Alicia. The women quickly accept their complete loss in the Accuracy contest. Now, I have to 1v1 each and every one of them. "Too bad... I''m probably way older than any of you so my body is way more trained. I did have to carry things that had weighed about 50 kilo''s after all." I laugh a bit as the first one runs at me. In the Strength contest, it was alright to use a weapon but I used my bare hands. The first one, Laurette, did a basic overhead swing at me. Since the weapon is blunt, I have no use for it. I dodged and hit the sword in the side, sending it flying to the edge of the ring. After that I immediatly turned to Laurette and hit her in the softest part in the armor, the hip. I deduced this because there was no iron plate there. The moment I hit her in the hip, she collapses and falls to the ground. My complete victory. "This fight seemed to be in our favor but it seems this Hayden fellow''s quite a strong one." Yofie said to the others but I didn''t understand what. The vice-captain Brenelle entered and exited even faster than Laurette. Yofie''s fight took a little bit longer since she kept distance between me and her and didn''t allow me to get a hit near her armor''s soft parts. Until she made a mistake calculating where I was going to hit and blocked the wrong hand so I hit her straight in the hip again. All the fights ended that way. In the fight against the shield-wielder Esther, I just grabbed her shield and jumped over it, straight infront of her. Since she hadn''t predicted this, I had an easy victory. The spear-wielder however... (I''m being kept at range... I can''t get close with that flurry of spear attacks.) The moment I try to make a move, a whole flurry of spears blocks my path. I notice Laurette''s sword still in the ring, technically useable in the fight. I run to the sword, grab it and then go as close to Lailah as possible. I then throw my sword into the flurry of spears, disrupting it for a split-second, the split-second which I utilised. I jump into the range of her spear but close enough that she can''t hit me. I gently smile as I, also, hit her in the hip again. All the fights had ended but the third contest didn''t start. There was no point to it as I had already shown my skill in fighting whilst using my strength. "I''m impressed, Brother. I hadn''t expected you to win against Lailah! I mean, even if the other five go against her at the same time she defeats them all!" Alicia says whilst being in high spirits. After a few minutes of Alicia boasting about my strength, we all went to the mess hall to grab something to eat. We grab an entire table for ourselves and none of the knights dare approach us. I do feel even more hostility from the male knights though. "A message for the Six Holy Knights, Alicia Igbhan and the Most Esteemed Guest, Hayden! The King and the Pope both request your presence in the Neutral Grounds!" A messenger shouts something, which I don''t understand. Alicia grabs my hand and we all immediatly leave towards somewhere. (I have no idea what''s going on... This language barrier''s really going to annoy me to hell, isn''t it?) ---- Information Transmission ---- Laurette, The Captain of the Holy Knights, is 185 cm, 76 kg. She has blonde hair which reaches to her hips but she manages to hide it using her armor. She is 29 years old, the oldest member of the Holy Knights chosen by the Goddess. Her measurements are unknown even to the Information Group''s and so is everybody elses in the Holy Knights. It is known that, based on the visual sight of their measurements, the highest to the lowest goes like this: Yofie, Esther, Lailah, Laurette, Brenelle, Daphiel. Brenelle, the Vice-Captain, is 176 cm, 56 kg. She has brown, short hair. She is 26 years old. Yofie, The Tactician, is the most learnt of the bunch. She is 179 cm, 72 kg. She has natural-born blood-red hair. She is 18, the youngest of the bunch. Daphiel, The Logician, is the one who can manage things the best. She is 192 cm, 73 Kg. She has natural silver hair. She is 22 years old. Esther, The Shield, is as said, the best shield. She is 210 cm and 91 kg. She has pure black hair. She is 24 years old. Lailah, The Spear, is also as said, the best spear wielder. She is 169 cm and 65 kg. She is 20 years old. That is all the information we currently have to share about the Six Holy Guards. Well, the information we are ALLOWED to share. --- Information Transmission Ended --- Chapter 42. The Meeting Alicia drags me by my hand and the six guards follow closely behind. "Alicia, what''s going on?" I ask Alicia whilst checking if my guns are still with me. "The Pope and King are requesting our presence in the Neutral Grounds." Alicia answers in a serious tone. We finally reach the so called Neutral Grounds and I see The Pope and the King and a few guards surrounding them. There is a table in the middle of the grounds and both the Pope and King are sitting behind it. --- Alicia''s POV --- "Ah. You are here Alicia. Please, take a seat." The King tells me to sit down behind a round table. As I sit down, the six guards surround the table as well and Hayden stands right behind me. "We have gathered here today... To talk about you and Hayden, Alicia.. We know that you are leaving soon since the Goddess has told us but... There''s a question we have. Who exactly is Hayden? Both of us have tried to get near that Flying Iron Cart that he brought here but that weird ball chased us away. What is he hiding from us?" The Pope starts this meeting with a bunch of questions. "Hayden is my brother. And that Iron Cart is a helicopter, which I am not sure how he got it, and the ball is Ion. Also. Don''t call Ion a ball again... It''s rude. I don''t really think he is hiding much except food and drink. But even I haven''t been near the helicopter yet so I don''t know." I answer truthfully since lying will get me nowhere with these two. The Pope and King start talking to eachother for a long time and I notice Hayden looking around at the statues surrounding us. --- Hayden''s POV --- "Interested in the statues?" Alicia asks me suddenly. "Quite. They look carefully sculpted. Like somebody dedicated their entire life just to make one." I answer Alicia''s question. Alicia laughs a little before looking at me again. "You just told the truth. Each and every one of these fifteen sculptures were made by a different master of scuplting. All as their last sculpture in their life. They represent all the different kings that have ruled this country. Also, do you see that empty hallway?" Alicia points towards a hallway that is actually completely empty and seemingly leads to nowhere. "I do see it. I don''t see it''s point though. Why is it there, oh most intelligent sister of mine?" I ask Alicia. She giggles even more, attracting the attention of the Pope and King who do not say anything and just look at me and Alicia speaking. "That''s for the future kings. Since this room is full, all the other kings will be sculpted in there." Alicia answers while still giggling a little.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. "It seems the two want to speak to you again but before they do... How do you know so much, Alicia?" I ask Alicia as I actually am curious how she knows this much. Alicia looks at the vice-captain and says something and she brings out a huge book from the hallway. "That, is how I know so much. It''s the history book of this Kingdom and Papacy. Most of the time I spent here was reading that one book as I had nothing else to do here. I couldn''t train with a sword... My body is too weak for that... I couldn''t learn the magic everybody is talking about as nobody was here to teach me... It was truly boring until you came, Brother!" Alicia answers and then turns towards the two again and she starts talking to them again in one of the most serious tones I have ever heard. I take the book from the vice-captain and try to read through it slowly but as I cannot read... At all... It''s useless to me. (At least there are pictures.. I''ll try to figure out what it''s talking about based on these.) --- Alicia''s POV --- "Why are you two looking at me like you just saw a ghost?" I ask the two who have their mouths open. "You... You just laughed... And even giggled... Not even our best jester or comedian could do that!" The King shouts out immediatly "What a fearful foe... A foe worth bowing down to..." The Pope is muttering something and I get even more confused. "What do you mean? Well. Let''s get back on topic. Anything else about Hayden and I?" I just want to get this meeting finished to continue my trip with Hayden... "One question. How long until you leave?" The King immediatly asks me. "I think in about two days? That should be enough time to introduce Hayden to the area near the castle." Another truthful answer from me. "Ah... Well. I don''t think we have any more questions. You are free to go..." They let me leave the meeting room but it seems like they have a lot more questions but can''t ask while Hayden is nearby. (Well, whatever! I can continue on my trip with Hayden!) I get up from the seat, bow and then grab Hayden''s hand and leave the room with Hayden and the six guards. --- After Alicia has left, inside the Neutral Grounds --- "Truce?" The King suddenly asks the Pope. "Truce. Even if we tried to keep her here no matter what... She would still follow Hayden. We have no reason to quarrel. But such a fearsome foe that Hayden is. Effortlessly making her laugh even though both of us hired the best comedians in the kingdom to try and make her laugh sometimes..." The Pope answers the King. "It seems she feels safe around Hayden. The Six Holy Guards seemed to be relaxed as well near him. I wonder what happened between the eight of them in the span of a day..." The King asks the Pope and the guards but they can''t answer. This conversation kept on going until it was evening and they still couldn''t exactly figure out what could''ve happened between them. ----- Information Transmission ---- Page 964 of the History of the Island Kingdom and the Papacy. "The Great King Urion and the Great Pope Kantrico once more united to face the common threat of the Raiders. The Raiders were fiercer than usual, possibly here only to get revenge for their fallen bretheren or the previous king of the Raiders, High King Jullo, who was defeat by Urion in a legendary duel. The number of Raiders had quadrupled and their ferocity had doubled. The United Army of Urion and Kantrico met them near the town of Kvuli. The stale-mate lasted for sixty entire days but the Raiders seemingly hadn''t lost a single shred of morale and were still as ferocious. Both sides had casualties but the raiders had a lot more than the United Army. It is still unknown why but on the 61''st day, the Raiders suddenly attacked full-force, instead of their usual small band skirmishes, and didn''t stop attacking until the last one was dead. 75 915 United Army men died in the glorious battle whilst the Raiders lost their entire army, 250 000. A monument has been built where the battle had taken place. The Monument is also a grave to the Three. Jullo, Urion and Kantrico. Urion and Kantrico both asked for their bodies to be buried near the Monument and Jullo''s body to be burned near it, as per the Raider customs." --- Information Transmission Ended --- Chapter 43. Lift off. Alicia showed me around the castle and the town for two entire days before she finally agreed to leave. We head towards the helicopter so we could leave just before midnight, as planned. (We''ll do it the old way, fly during the night, rest during the day.) "Alicia. Why is every guard we pass crying and bowing down? Is it possible they know that we were supposed to leave today?" I ask Alicia since I had no idea what was happening. Alicia thinks for a while as we walk and finally turns towards me. "I might''ve accidentally told the Pope and King. Oops." Alicia makes herself look like an airhead whilst I just sigh. (Well... At least she didn''t tell them everything about me when they asked... Probably.) We finally reach the Helicopter after an hour or so of walking. Nobody is near the helicopter except Ion, who''s patrolling the area around it. Ion notices us and flies towards us. "I have fulfilled my job. I have scared all of the people away for the duration of the stay." Ion then flies into the helicopter to recharge. I hear people in armour running towards us and when I look behind, I see the Six Guards. "They''ve finally come... I was waiting for them." I say to Alicia and then get onboard the helicopter myself and start turning it on. --- Alicia''s POV --- (Finally... On an adventure... With my brother....!)Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I couldn''t hide my excitement and had a huge smile on my face. "They''ve finally come... I was waiting for them." Hayden suddenly says and then enters the helicopter. I look behind myself to see the Six. "Alicia! Wait for us! You told us you''d take us with you!" Laurette shouts in a panic as she runs towards me in full armour. "I did say that! And Hayden was actually waiting for you! Come on, let''s get on!" As I finish saying that, the helicopter''s rotors start spinning and a loud noise was coming from the helicopter. I run into the helicopter and so do the six others. Hayden then comes and closes both the doors once we are inside. "Lift Off. Time to go to the Empire to fulfill a slight promise." As Hayden finishes saying that, he pulls the helicopter off the ground and into the air. The Six Guards are visibly terrified of being inside of a flying, loud, lump of metal. --- On the ground, after lift off --- "They''re going, sir!" One of the knights shouts to the king. "What?! Already!?" The king runs outside and barely sees the ''helicopter'' that Alicia mentioned, go up into the air. The prince runs out as well a little while after. "No... Alicia''s... Alicia''s gone! Father, get her back! GET her back here! She was mine!!!" The Prince falls to his knees and starts crying. "It''s heading towards... The Mainland... There''s no way we can get her back now, My son." The King answers the prince in a solemn voice. --- Back on the Helicopter, the Six Guards --- "Laurette... I''m scared... Why did we come here again...?" Yofie asks Laurette as she is clinging to her. "The Goddess ordered us, remember? There is no reason to be afraid! It is just a mere creation of The Goddess''s will!" Laurette answers with confidence but her legs are shaking the most. Alicia giggles a little and then looks towards Hayden and Ion, who are piloting the Helicopter. --- A little while after, Hayden''s Perspective --- (It''s turning to morning... Time to land.) I do a little spin with the helicopter to make sure we are far enough from the island and then land down on a clearing. Once we have safely landed, I open the doors and then turn the helicopter off. I get out of the Helicopter and immediatly start setting up the protective fence with the help of Ion''s scouting. The other seven are visibly confused until I set up the solar panels, then only six are visibly confused. "Everything is set up. Time to rest for the day. Alicia, can you assist me with learning the language of the Island Kingdom? I''ve mostly got the hang of the Empire''s, where we are going, but I need to speak to the Six Guards myself some time soon." I ask Alicia in an earnest voice. "I''ll happily help you!" Alicia, from that point on started to help me in my studies. Chapter 44. Back to the Empire. --- In the Helicopter, near the Canyon, at Sunrise --- "What is that!?" Alicia shouts the instant she sees it. "I don''t know! It wasn''t on the maps I''ve seen!" Yofie immediatly responds to Alicia''s question. I decide to land near the Canyon to show them even more. I land near the edge of the canyon and immediatly set up the defensive fence. A few minutes later, I take them near the edge of the Canyon. "Tell them to be careful, not even Ion could find it''s bottom so..." I warn Alicia and the rest just in case. They all look down into the seemingly bottomless canyon.. --- The Six Guard''s POV --- "This is kind of scary, isn''t it?" Laurette says to the rest and they nod. A stone gets loose and falls down and they all back off immediatly. "I''m not going near that edge again... It seems unstable..." Daphel says to everybody and they agree with her thought. --- Back to Hayden --- (They''re really scared of that edge, aren''t they? It might be a tad unstable but it shouldn''t collapse for no reason at all.)This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I let Alicia teach me a lot of things about the Language whilst the Guards are ''patrolling'' around us. --- Later that day, almost sundown --- "Everybody, time to get into the helicopter! The Empire isn''t far away!" I tell Alicia and she tells the Guards and we all gather up into the helicopter. I set off towards the Empire to repay a small debt, they did help me build the Helicopter after all. --- Some time later, near the Capital of the Empire, Empress Emilia''s POV --- "Your Majesty! We''ve spotted the ''Helicopter''! It''s coming this way! Hayden is returning!" One of the wall guards runs in and shouts some good news... "Hayden... He''s finally back!" I jump up from my throne and run towards the part of the wall he was spotted from. I see the helicopter starting to slow down before it reaches the walls and when it''s above me, It completely stops and starts to land on the empty spot we made just for the Helicopter. "Hayden... Hayden''s back..." I run down the stairs towards Hayden''s Helicopter. Suddenly, a lot of other women start coming out of the helicopter before Hayden and Ion come out... (Who are these women?! What are they in relation to Hayden? I mean... He was away for a while it would make sense that he''d get lonely... But seven women!? Hayden!? Had you forgotten about me...?) --- Back to Hayden --- I get out of the helicopter and notice a sad Emilia staring at me. (Ah, she must be thinking about why there are so many women with me. Good thing I''ve broken through the language barrier whilst I was flying back and forth and can now... Kind of... Speak the language of the Empire...) "I am back, Emilia. I brought my sister and her six guards with me as well." I look towards Alicia who comes forward and bows. I introduce each of them to Emilia and she welcomes each of them with a warm smile, the complete opposite from before. (So far I''ve been speaking near-perfectly... Though it is with the most simple words possible.) After the introductions, we went inside the Castle Keep for a party arranged by Emilia for our return. (Only a few nobles here and there... I guess most of them returned to their territories.) We head to the Feasting Halls for the party. (I''ll need to somehow pay my debt to Emilia... But how? Hmm.... New Technology? Something to help them out a tad? Medicine? I don''t know... I need to think of something...) Chapter 45. The Repayment of the Debt (What should I give her Empire... Medicine, Agriculture? New weapons and armour? Or... A bit of everything?) "Emilia, can we meet in private later? I have something to tell you." I suddenly speak out, suprising everybody in the room. Emilia nods and her face turns red. (Did I say something weird?) I ignore the fact that Emilia was embarrased for some reason and we kept on ''feasting'' until the evening. After that, we were all escored to our rooms and I asked to be escorted to Emilia''s room. (Here goes nothing...) I knock on Emilia''s door. "It''s me, Hayden." I say who I am, just in case. (Ion''s floating around me if I ever say something wrong, which is good.) "Enter." I hear Emilia say. I enter the room and she''s sitting on a sofa with a cup of tea in her hand. "Well... What did you want to talk about?" She asks me whilst blushing. I walk up to the table and sit on the chair opposite of her. "I want to help the Empire grow a little bit. You did help me find my sister, after all." I answer her question. She tilts her head slightly sideways and puts down the cup of tea. "You''ve helped us plenty already though..." I hear Emilia say quietly. "I thought I might help with your..." I try to finish my sentence but I don''t know the word ''Technology''.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "I think Hayden''s trying to say that he''ll help with your Technological Advancements so you''ll have an edge over your neighbours." Ion immediatly finishes my sentence the moment he sees I am in trouble. (Good job, Ion!) Emilia seems to fall into deep thought. "I want to help your... Farming, Medicine and Weaponry. That should be how you say that, right?" I interrupt Emilia''s thinking phase. I look towards Ion since he''ll be able to properly get my thoughts across. "We''ll share with you a few types of Agricultural Systems, a few new types of medicine and a new way to create stronger weapons and armour. The Agricultural Systems we want to introduce are Monocultures, Multiple Cropping, Intercropping and Polycultures. The new medicine we want to introduce is different types of Medicine and Penicillin. We''ll also introduce Vaccines. Armour and Weaponry... Stronger and more effective swords and we''ll introduce early muskets and a new type of armour, which helps against swords, sabres and so on but doesn''t hinder movement as much. I''ll now start explaining what each of these mean and how to make and use them so, start writing them down and in detail." Ion says and then starts explaining, like he said. I just sit and drink tea whilst saying Ion to repeat some portions so Emilia could catch up again. (I wonder... Why does Ion have all this in his databanks but not an earlier and easier to build type of helicopter in his databanks? Who selected Ion''s data? I want to know. And I want to hit them...) --- Emilia''s POV, after Ion''s long explanation and a night of sleeping. --- (Ugh... This is hell... True hell...) "What the hell is all this!?" My military advisor shouts out. "Indeed! With this type of medicine... We would have so little deaths... It''d be a miracle!" Another one of my advisors shouts out. "This type of farming... I''d create more crops, meaning even the poor could start to feed themselves without having to work much!" My agricultural advisor is also impressed. "Emilia... Where''d you get all this...?" My Head Advisor asks me and all of them immediatly turn their attention to me. "Umm... Hayden and Ion gave it to me as a gift for helping them build the Helicopter..." I answer in a slightly tired voice since I still remember Ion''s explanations.. "With this... We could rule the world!" My military advisor shouts out again. I then, remembered what Ion and Hayden both said at the end of the lecture. "No! We cannot! Ion and Hayden forbid us to use these advancements to conquer lands! They said only to use them to help the current population be protected! They also said that they''ll be back to destroy the Empire if they start conquering lands using these technologies!" I also immediatly tell them what Ion and Hayden warned me about after that. Me and the Advisors keep discussing the new technology Ion explained to me. (I wonder what Hayden and Ion are doing now? I told them to go and visit the city before leaving again so I could spend some time with them tonight...) Chapter 46. Imperial Capital, Exploration Part 1. After letting Emilia leave the room, I get off the chair I was sitting on. "Emilia said we should go explore the city. Should we?" Ion asks me whilst floating around the room. I think for a bit. "Probably. We should first go and check out how many people are looking at the Helicopter though." I answer Ion''s question and we both leave the room. Alicia and the Six Guards were there, waiting for me. "Well, what now?" Alicia immediatly asks me. "Capital exploration time." When I say that, Alicia''s eyes basically become the Pure Light Element itself. We walk out of the Keep and a Guard hands us a pouch of gold. (Emilia, you honestly give too... Wait... This is actually enough money considering who I am going with.) I look towards my sister and keep walking forward. All the guards bow to us as they know who I am. The instant we leave the castle-section of the Capital, all the citizens look at us. While we walk towards the Helicopter''s location, the amount of people stalking us increases. (I mean, I did arrive here in a flying piece of metal but... This amount of people is weird.) I quickly check how many magazines for my guns I have left and I have quite a few. (Never leave home without a gun and a few magazines.) When we reach the helicopter, the stalkers have dissapeared. "Seems the guards have done a fine job of scaring off everybody trying to approach the helicopter." I say to Ion, Alicia and the rest.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I walk up to one of the guards. "Can you tell us where the shops are?" I ask the guard and he immediatly starts thinking. "Just go back from here and then when the intersection appears, go towards the road heading out of the Capital. The shops are in the lower section of the Capital, where most people live." The Guard answers and we take his advice and head towards the shops. Once we reach the section the guard talked about, I understood why I hadn''t seen many people on the way here. (How didn''t I notice this? Was I really that blind?) There is a decently sized wall splitting off the Upper and Lower sections of the Capital and there are even guards heading out for patrols. We head to the wall and they let us through after seeing me. Once we reach the Lower Section, the amount of people seemingly increases by a thousandfold. (So far... I''m going to take a wild guess... There are actually no shops in the Higher Section and all the people living there specially order from the more prestigious shops from the Lower Section for their clothing, food and so on.) We head into one of the shops near the wall and a huge selection of clothes appears in my face. (Oh... Oh no...) Alicia immediatly darts in from behind me and starts looking through everything and so do the other six. "You dug your own grave, Hayden." Ion says whilst floating around me. I wait for the girls finish selecting their clothing and then I give some coins to the shop owner and we leave. (This time, I need to find a place which isn''t filled with clothes.) I look around whilst walking in a group. A group of guards passes by us but instantly stops and waits for us to catch up and then forms a kind of ''wall'' infront of us, not letting any civilians near us. (Is this Emilia''s doing as well?) The guards stop when Alicia notices a shop and runs into it. We follow as well and I nod to the guards and they go on their usual patrol. When I enter the shop, I notice what type of a shop it is. (Accessories? And... Quite well crafed ones at that. The Prices are quite high but Emilia gave me quite a bit so I can buy some here...) I walk around the shop for a while and notice that the six guards found six matching rings, like the rings were made for them. Alicia also finds a necklace that suits her. They all come to me and we go to the shop keeper and I buy the accessories. The Shop Keeper is an old man and once I finished paying, I noticed that the old man smirked a little and then went back to sleep. We go through a few more shops but Alicia and the others didn''t find anything they wanted. We finally entered a restaurant that one of the Guards on patrol said was the best around. We ate for a bit and then went back to the Keep since it was getting dark. I notice that the Stalkers came back when I entered the Upper Section again. (Again, the same stalkers. Are they guards or assassin''s... Can''t tell.. Oh well, if they attack... Ion will tell and I will shoot. Ion''s been keeping an eye on whatever is going on anyways.) In the Keep, we went to our rooms and almost instantly fell asleep. Chapter 47. Imperial Capital, Exploration Part 2. We wake up and immediatly head down towards our Helicopter and search for information regarding the ''Sections'' of the Capital. The instant I step out of the castle gates, I notice a shadow jumping on rooftops, going somewhere as fast as possible. (The Stalkers. I should handle them and fast.) We keep walking and I''m the only one noticing the Stalkers so far. "You guys go to the helicopter, I''ll be right with you. I forgot something back at the castle. Just wait for me at the Helicopter, alright?" I say as we are half-way near the helicopter. "Alright. Knowing you, you probably actually did forget something but be quick." Alicia answers and keeps walking forward. I walk towards the castle keep a bit and then I jump into a big alleyway between a few of the more tightly stacked houses. The shadows immediatly drop around me. "Fools! Run! You just jumped into a trap!" I say, fully knowing they wouldn''t understand me. I bring out my guns and smile as I point them at the stalkers. (They really are fools. Did they perhaps think I forgot my guns back there? Or did they think they can handle me?) The shadows hesitate to run forward except one, who tried to quickly close the gap between us but fails. (That''s one down. If you charge straight at me while I''m pointing my gun at you, you cannot dodge.) The others immediatly hide themselves except two, who keep circling around me. (Ah, a distraction tactic so the other seven can kill me with a sneak attack. Won''t work.... It''s too obvious when seven of you dissapear at the same time!) I shoot the two circling me and immediatly jump backwards. Fourteen daggers pierce the ground where I was just standing.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. I jump backwards once more, out of the alleyway and force them to follow me into the big street where the guards see me. (They can''t just run away anymore. They need to quickly kill me before the guards get here.) I see that guards are already storming out of the castle gates, probably because of my gunshots. The ones in the front see me. "The Knight is being attacked! Get those dirty Assassins!" One of the front guards shout and they spread out, creating something like a stampede. (That is slightly scary to see if I wasn''t on their side.) I keep dodging their attacks and shooting their non-vital spots. (I need at least one of them alive. I need to know who is trying to kill me.) The guards reach my position five minutes later but I''ve already shot the assassin''s legs and they are unable to move. They only throw daggers desperatly but in such a way that I can see them before they are even thrown. The guards immediatly knock them unconcious and start dragging them off. "The Knight is safe!" The guard shouts again and everybody leaves. I bow as sort of a thank you and start heading towards the Helicopter. Once I reach there, Alicia is already climbing ontop of it. "Was I really away for that long?" I ask Ion, who was with Alicia the entire time. "Yes. For Alicia you were gone for hours." Ion answers whilst making sure there is no chance of Alicia falling. "Then, why is she ontop of the helicopter?" I ask Ion once more. "The Helicopter was the tallest thing around so she wanted to get a better view. Also, I''ve gathered info about the Military Section, the Guilds Section and the Slums of the capital." Ion answers and Alicia climbs down. I nod as I listen to Ion''s report on the Guilds Section, the one that intrigued me the most. (The Guilds Section, mainly controlled by the Four Major Guilds. The Crafting Guild; The Adventurers Guild; The Merchants Guild and The Mercenaries Guild. There are two ''alliances''. The Crafting Guild and The Merchants Guild; The Adventurers Guild and the Mercenaries Guild.) We reach the Guild Section as I quickly make sure I know everything Ion told me. --- Somewhere Unknown --- "Ah... You were right after all. I thought you''d be stupid sending both of the Siblings but you''ve actually changed the future of this World." A shadowy figure says. "You mean, Hayden changed it." A second figure says. "Yes yes, Hayden Whateversbhan." The first figure says. "Oi! It''s Hayden Igbhan! I went through a lot of trouble for him! So don''t you dare make fun of him!" The second figure says again. "Bla bla bla. He is just one mere Humanoid Creature out of the many. Why are you so attached to him?" The first figure asks. "You two, stop! Just, observe! We were sent here to make sure this World is safe. Not to bicker amongst eachother." A figure made out of light suddenly says. "Yes, Master." Both of the figures stop and sit down on chairs. "But... Master... I have a question..." The Second Figure says and looks towards the Third Figure. "Yes, My Student?" The Third Figure looks towards the Second. "Why did you allow Hayden to live after the Sol System Incident?" The Second Figure asks but the Third doesn''t answer and just looks at a mirror showing Hayden and his party in the Guilds Section. Chapter 48. The Guilds Section. As we walk into the Guilds Section, four buildings stand right out. "Those must be the four guild buildings, huh?" I ask Ion. "Yes. On the left is the Crafting-Merchants Alliance and on the right is the Adventurer-Mercenary Alliance." I get my answer from Ion instantly. We walk a little bit and see a notice on the Crafting Guild''s front door just as we were about to enter. (Entry allowed only to the Guild Members... That''s a shame.) After a slight moment of feeling dissapointed, we went towards the Adventurer Guild which was directly across the street from the Crafting Guild. (No note on the door, people going in and out. That''s a good sign.) We enter the building and the moment we enter, all eyes are focused on my group but mostly on Ion or the girls. (Grins here and there, do they think I''m just a rich nobleman who only picked female guards? They are wrong.) One of the workers sees me and runs to an office in a slightly panicked state. (Do they think I''m here to register?) I walk away from the door since I was blocking the way and a few minutes later, the worker returns with somebody who is probably a superior. "I''m sorry, we didn''t have a notification of your arrival! You must be a noble, right?" The higher-ranking worker bows and at the same time signals for the other one to return to work. I chuckle for a bit before I decide to answer him. "I don''t know if you could call me a noble. I mean, quite a few have bowed before me but I don''t consider myself one of them." I say in a serious tone since what I say is true. The man thinks for a bit and then reaches a conclusion. "You must be here to register for the Adventurers guild then, yes?" The man says in a confident voice. I shake my head and look towards the rest of my group who agree with my decision.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. "We aren''t here to register. We are just merely exploring." I say as I take a quick look around the room and then start to leave. (Exactly as expected. It''s exactly the same as in every version of an adventurer guild that I''ve read about.) We leave the guild and the man looks at us shocked. "Where now, Merchants or Mercenaries?" I ask my little group. They think amongst themselves for a bit and then Alicia comes forward. "Mercenaries first, then we can buy things at the Merchants if they are willing to sell." Alicia and the group look at me seriously and I just sigh and head towards the Mercenaries Guild. We walk for a bit and the instant we reach the Mercenaries Guild somebody gets thrown out and slides across the ground for a while. "And don''t you dare come back here you thief!" A brawny man says and then sees us. "Ah, I''m sorry about that. You are here to visit us right? Come right in." The brawny man acts polite and we walk in after him. "Oi! You all act proper now! We got guests!" The man shouts and apparently we crash an entire party. The man looks back at us. "I''m truly sorry about this, It''s just that one of our Mercenary Squads returned today from a really long trip and we are celebrating it. The person I threw out earlier was trying to pickpocket us since most of us are drunk right now." The man explains the situation. "It''s nothing, let them continue drinking. We are here just to explore and see the Capital. Today we are looking at the Guilds Section and we decided to see the Mercenaries Guild." I explain to him why we are here. "Ah, then I''ll give you a quick summary of what our prices and things are. One Regular Mercenary is 1 gold and one of our ''Genius'' Mercenaries are 5 gold. By Genius I mean the ones that are better at fighting than everybody. Also, if you wish to hire the entire guild for something like fighting another nation, then the price is around 20 000 gold. Depending on the nation of course." The man laughs for a bit and then sits down. (That''s a decent amount, huh. Maybe somebody else has a use for them.) "Thank you for that. We will leave so your guild members can get back to their party." I smile and leave the guild with my group. (About half of that guild was drunk and looking at the girls like some sort of livestock for satisfaction. If that summary was longer, I would''ve had to shoot somebody.) "Let''s head to the Merchants then." I say and we arrive near the last guild in about five minutes due to a large amount of people blocking our way. We enter the guild and see a lot of doors leading to rooms and people guarding the doors. "Welcome to the Merchants Guild, do you wish to sell or buy?" A receptionist asks me, not even looking up but staring down at her book. "To buy." I answer simply and the receptionist shows towards the right side of the building with her hand. I walk towards the right and see that there are a lot of signs saying what are in the several rooms. After a few hours of Alicia and the others shopping, we finally leave. "It''s gotten quite dark." I say the instant we walk outside. "We were in there for hours after all." Ion says to me. I just nod and we go back to our rooms in the keep after walking all the way back. (A tiring day but at least I know where I can get several things. It''s a shame that the crafting guild only allowed guild members inside. I need to find a way to get in contact with them sometime.) I lay down on my bed and fall asleep a little bit later. Chapter 49. Towards Destiny. After we woke up, we immediatly explored the Military Section only to find out we weren''t allowed into most important locations yet as none of us were an official member of the Army. We then went to the slums, which were just as anybody would think, full of beggars and other people trying to gain money easily. (Ok so... We explored both the Military Section and the Slums in five hours since there was nothing we could do in both of them. Now... One last thing to do before I leave... Saying goodbye.) We return to the Keep and Emilia is already waiting there, on her throne, with a sad look on her face. We all kneel down before her. "Emilia, it is time for us to go. You know we can''t be here forever. There is a reason we are here and we are going to find out so... We have to keep on moving." I say goodbye in a very long and roundabout way. "I know... I''ve known all along... I just wished to spend more time but it seems impossible now... I hope we meet again, Hayden and the others..." Emilia says and then lowers her head. We all get up and walk towards the exit after bowing once more. (To the Humans of this World. They know why I am here and why Alicia is here so we have to go.) We walk to the helicopter and immediatly take off after checking up on it''s condition and to see if anything''s been stolen. (Everything has been replenished and we have enough fuel to get to the mountain range, I think. Well... Barely enough. We can definetly make it to the bottom of one of the mountains so we gotta hope we don''t need to waste any fuel.)The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. We start heading towards the Mountain Range holding answers to our questions. "I didn''t know Emilia as well as you did but I''m still sad to say goodbye to her..." Alicia says whilst looking towards the barely seeable Capital. The Six Guards are awfully quiet but I see them look towards our destination. (Alicia looks to the past whilst her guards look towards the future. That is somehow kind of... Funny. The guards are probably excited for a new adventure and waaait... Six Guards from a Holy Church that is probably a branch of Imonothep aka the Church that exiled Humanity in this world... And we''re going to meet those Humans right now... I hope I''m not going to be starting a continuation of the Holy War. Really hope that...) While I am worried about the future relationship between the Six Guards and the Humans... The Six Guards in question are excited to see the Legendary Humans that used to be the strongest beings before hiding themselves. ---- Meanwhile, at the Mountain Range --- "Make haste! They are heading towards here! Prepare everything! We need to show that Humans of this World are as sophisticated as theirs!" A man shouts from ontop of a mountain and his voice is heard through even the forests far down below. "Yes!" Many shouts respond to the orders and all of a sudden, the entire mountain range starts seemingly turning alive as a lot of people start moving on paths forged onto the mountain range. Humans keep streaming out of doorways forged into the Mountains themselves and houses that are seeable ontop of the Mountains. Each person knows what they must do, where they can do that and how. There is not a single person who is just sitting down except the leaders, who are commanding from the tips of the Mountains. Many large beasts wander close to the Mountain Range to see what the noise is about, just to get immediatly killed by the Guardsmen who have already taken up positions all around the Mountains. "Good! Keep working! Show the Humans from another World what we can do in this one! Make us proud!" Another man shouts from another Mountain but his voice is still heard all across the Mountain Range. Chapter 50. The Mountain Range We fly towards the mountain range for a few days before we arrive. (It seems they''ve... Prepeared...) I decide to land on the big landing pad that is glowing and that they''ve set up and are all surrounding and apparently pointing at. When I land, they all stop pointing and bow down and I see a group of people approach. "All right, let''s get out. They''ve set up such an entrance for us, let''s not waste it." I say in a calm voice since one of us needs to keep our calm in this situation. I get out of the helicopter and so do the rest. In the time we spent getting out, the group has already reached us. "Welcome, Hayden Igbhan and Alicia Igbhan. Greetings, Ion, Laurette, Brenelle, Yofie, Daphiel, Esther and Lailah. My name is Landar. I am the Lord of the First Mountain. I was also the one who sent the fairy to deliver our message." One of the people from the group says whilst walking towards us though the rest have stopped. "I heard your message and came here after taking a little break. I heard you can answer my questions apparently." I immediatly get to the point and Landar just nods in agreement.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. "I shall answer them all tonight, for now. We must have a small feast to celebrate your arrival, isn''t that right?" He shouts out the celebration part. "That is right, Lord Landar!" All the humans surrounding us shout out at the same time. I quickly look around us to make sure they are actually humans and I couldn''t find anything that hinted at them not being a human. "Everybody, go to your tables and let the feast begin in exaclt half an hour!" Landar shouts out once more and everybody starts walking and so does Landar. We follow him and I notice that the other people who were with Landar have already dissapeared off to somewhere. We walk for around twenty minutes before we reach a table filled with food and drinks. Landar immediatly sits down and notices we are hesitating to even go near the table. "Don''t be shy, sit down and feast! We have no reason to poison you or any of your party members. It would actually harm us more than you! So sit down and enjoy the food and drink we''ve prepeared!" Landar smiles at us and points towards the chairs next to him. As we can''t just outright say no, we sit down and slowly start eating and after a while... "Ah, you started without us!" One of the people I saw before comes up the stairs and so do the rest. "Well, you all dissapeared after all, Valhorn!" Landar shouts and they couldn''t say anything and just sat down on the other side of the table from us. They start feasting with us and the person called Valhorn constantly kept coming over to me and trying to hit on Alicia or talk to me for hours non-stop. (Luckily... We have Landar with us... Landar is our guardian from Valhorn''s constant ramblings.) We feast for quite a while until it is nearly night. "I guess it''s time to answer your questions, you''ve waited long enough after all." Landar suddenly says whilst everybody is in the middle of feasting and Valhorn has knocked himself out due to drinking too much. Chapter 51. The Questions and The Answers. "I guess it''s time to answer your questions, you''ve waited long enough after all." After Landar''s sudden declaration, everybody stops and looks at him. He gets up from his chair and starts walking towards two big doors leading into the mountain. "Come now. Being outside will not help me answer your questions. We are heading to the Hall of Codices." Landar opens the two big doors which were a mere fifty meters away from our feasting table. I follow him and we walk for a bit until we reach two even bigger doors which are decorated with gold. "The Hall of Codices is our most valuable place. Many of the other Humanoids on this World think that we retreated here because we had no other choice but we know otherwise. We protect the Halls of Codices that our forefathers left us." Landar explains why they came to this specific Mountain Range. He pushes the doors open and we enter the Hall. (This... This is like a library...) "It might seem useless at first but... These books and codices that are scattered across this ''Hall'' or so we call it, have near infinite value on this World. It explains how the thing known as ''Magic'' has come to be, why some parts glow when specific creatures or other things are near and so on. There are also explanations on how all of the many different things in this world have come to be. There is even a small book about the History of the World before our ''exile'' onto this Mountain Range. There is just one problem for you right now. You cannot read these. The books and Codices are written in a special language only known to the Mountain Lords and each one slightly deviates from it''s neighboring ones so you cannot be completely sure that they won''t be giving you false knowledge." Landar explains what this room and it''s importance really is. I look around the room a little and see a pedestal with a huge book on it and Landar notices me going towards it. "Seems like it caught your eye. That is a book that all Mountain Lords must read on their initiation. Sadly, I''ve been forbidden to talk about it''s contents. But do not worry, it is the only book which has been forbidden to talk about here." Landar quickly explains what the book is to me again. After I finally finish looking around I start asking Landar questions. "What is this ''Magic'' then? Why is it here and how is it here?" I immediatly ask the question that''s been annoying me the most. Landar walks closer to one of the shelves and takes a book out and he opens a certain page in the book. "Well, I don''t know exactly but this book does, more or less. Here it says that these Bacteria evolved from almost nothing, appearing here through unknown causes. The Bacteria have no known relative species on this entire planet. The ''Magic'' they help create uses ''Mana'' which is also generated by their bodies. The mana has unknown properties but it has one property which cannot be dismissed. It can change its form in seconds and into anything. Magic is just many condensed particles of the ''Mana'' which have more or less the same form and properties, hence why there are a lot of Magic Types such as Lightning, Fire, Water and so on. The Mana, if to believe this portion, is actually the different types of energy in the air and in different conditions certain Magic is easier and better to create. In a humid area it''s easier to create water Magic and it''s stronger than usual. Near dry areas, Fire magic is better and easier to create. It also says here that the Quality of the Mana and Magic comes from the person itself as well and that is why not all people who live in the same area create the exact same Fireball or any other type of Magic as it differs from being to being. That''s all the information in this book. Don''t know if it''s true or not but I believe it to be as our forefathers used to be the Grandmasters of Magic on this World for only Gods know how long." Landar finishes his very long explanation about Mana and Magic which gave me a slight insight into them.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! (The Bacteria, I need the Bacteria. If I figure out how to use this Bacteria for myself, It could help advance the research that has been stuck for eons.) "Hmm... Does it also say why me and Alicia are here?" I ask the second most important question to me. Landar laughs a bit and goes to the opposite shelf and takes a book from there. "Funnily enough. Yes. It is just a prophesy but it had held true until you went and picked her up. It explains more or less the entire time Alicia is here and in detail at that. You, however... Not at all. You are in no prophesies in this world. I''ve read this book many times and it ends with Alicia dying. In every possible deviation of the prophesy, Alicia dies and so do her six guards after they defeat their enemy. But... In all of the fifteen deviations, there is not a single mention of a second Summoned One. Not even the slightest of hints. It is exactly like you are a deviation from the already deviated prophesies, rendering them false. You''ve already changed her fate slightly. The Crown Prince''s faction should''ve won the Civil War but they didn''t since you interfered in it. Alicia was supposed to be tortured by the Crown Prince because she wouldn''t give him what he wanted, her hand in marriage, she eventually escaped but without her left arm and a bit of her sanity. Now, that the Crown Prince was majestically killed by you... That prophesy no longer holds true. You changed Alicia''s fate before she was even transported to this World." Landar finishes his sentence and suddenly falls into deep thought. I look at him for a while and he stops thinking all of a sudden. "I was mistaken. There is a deviation which involves you, Hayden. Though you''ve already proven that deviation false as well, it still mentioned you." He searches for a book in the huge library and finally finds it, a really thin book which seems to hold a single page. "Ah, here we go. The secret Sixteenth deviation. I even forgot about it''s existence for a while until I just remembered. It directly says that after Alicia was transported to this world, you were too but too far away from her. The Crown Prince of the Island nation got what he wanted and got Alicia as his ''toy'' and by the time you got there, she was broken and half-dead. This drove you insane. You escaped from the Island Kingdom with Alicia but that event turned you from the Hero to the Villain. You became something called a ''Lord of Destruction'' and started massively destroying anything that stood in your way of wiping the Island Kingdom off the face of this World and after you had done that, you destroyed everything else in your way of finally helping Alicia from her broken mindstate. In the end, you and Alicia both survive but the World turned into a hell, no Humanoids live. Only beasts fuelled with rage and the need to kill lived. What happens to you after that, the prophesy doesn''t say. It just says that even if there is another deviation of the Prophesy... Hayden will be in it and he will save this world. It seems like you are actually more important to this world than the person always talked about in all the deviations of the Prophesy. Also, why I keep calling them Deviations is because each Prophesy is a tiny bit different from the other ones. Either it follows a different path whilst keeping the same people or the other way around or some third option." Landar finishes explaining about Alicia''s and my importance in this world. I think about a third question but none come to mind until I remember the turtle. "My last question! What about the turtle? With a tree on it?" I ask and Landar looks at me with wide eyes. "You... You''ve seen it?" Landar asks while getting another big book and I just nod. "You witnessed a miracle then. That was one of the ''Six Holy Beings''. They are being of massive Magical Powers. They cannot be killed in the usual means but there used to be Seven. Our forefathers took down one of them when it was on a rampage but had massive casualties. Massive enough that we were on the brink of going extinct. These Holy Beings usually don''t show themselves, they always guard their bodies with Magic so it''s normally impossible to get near them when you do see one. A single one of these beings is capable of obliterating entire kingdoms and changing the entire life of the World so... Luckily for all of us they are mostly dormant or very peaceful, such as the Turtle. So far, in this book dedicated to only them, there is no record of two of the meeting eachother and there is no accurate description on the beings either as they''ve only been seen from far away due to their massive glowing as described here. There is literally nothing else written in this book that has been dedicated to them, that shows how elusive they are and how much nobody wants to disturb them for a single book." Landar finishes telling me about the Turtle and it''s ''Friends''. (So... I have a blood sample of it still in the Heli. I should keep that a secret. Now I have even more questions about them but I have a feeling that just seeing one is rare, touching one and taking a blood sample is near legendary to do. I''ll just keep that secret mine for now... I have a feeling it''d cause unneccessary things...) We head back to the table and continue feasting after Landar confirms I have no more major questions, only minor ones which can be answered at any times. Or so he thinks. Chapter 52. It all begins. --- Two days before Hayden met Landar, somewhere very very far away from everything else, a castle in a land of magma, lava and stone. --- "Are the preparations done?" A figure says from ontop a throne. Another figure appears from the shadows. "Yes, master. Everything is ready. Both the navy and the army are ready for the invasion. The greatest challenge has been slain by our troops already, we are free from this blasted land." The figure says whilst bowing. "Good. We start the invasion tomorrow! The instant the sun even hints at coming up we send our navy out with all our troops on it!" The King-like figure shouts out. The other figure stops bowing and gets up. "But sir, what about the Dragons?" The figure says. The King-like figure starts thinking for a bit before he also gets up. "Don''t send them. We need some sort of secret weapon against them as they most likely have some against us. Also, call all the Generals together immediatly. We need plans and tactics. Sending troops to their death isn''t my thing. Also, send this message all across the land if you can: ''The King forbids looting and slaughtering of innocents! Only kill those who are part of the enemy army!''." The figure sits back on his throne. The other figure bows down and leaves the room. "What did I get myself into following those two? I hope they are here, otherwise I might kill people for no apparent reason." The King-Like figure throws the crown off his head into the corner and looks at the ceiling, in his eyes a deep longing to see the two old friends he has.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. --- The Unknown Land with the three figures --- "Seems they''ve finally started. Took them a while to get rid of the Leviathan." The Second Figure says. "Indeed. I hope your little toy called Hayden doesn''t break." The First Figure says. "Oi! Stop that! Hayden''s not a toy!" The Second Figure immediatly responds. "You two! Don''t start this again! It''s the fiftieth time this week!" The Third figure appears out of nowhere again. "Yes, Master." Both of them say instantly. "Wow, look at that... When you see the entire fleet with the entire army it actually looks beautiful from above. I know they are going to wreak havoc against the lands that believe in the gods but still... It''s hard to say it''s not beautiful." The First Figure says. --- A few days later, a few hours after the first rays of the sun appeared, Hayden''s POV --- After waking up, I go and sit with Landar in the hall for breakfast. "Had a good sleep, Hayden?" Landar asks me the instant I arrive. "Yes, what about you?" I ask Landar back. "Couldn''t have been better. Well... If I had a woman near me then maybe but without one it was the best sleep I''ve ever had." Landar answers me. We talk a little bit while eating and the rest slowly start waking up. (I know our feast went past midnight but it''s almost midday and a few of us still haven''t woken up?) Suddenly, somebody bursts through the doors. "Lord Landar! Lord Landar! Important news! A black and red fleet have arrived with a massive army on the other side of the continent! They are invading the lands around them as we speak! This information is outdated as it''s been a few days so they''ve probably already invaded those lands!" The man finishes speaking and then collapses, visibly exhausted. "WHAT!?" Landar immediatly gets up and shouts. After shouting he immediatly walks away from the table and goes into a room and a few moments later we hear a really loud bell and then we hear the amount of those bells increase. (Seems this is the alert system, one mountain rings it''s bell and so do the rest in order.) Landar comes out of the room and sits back down. "Hayden. Remember those prophesies I told you about?" Landar immediatly asks me and I just nod as an answer. "Good... It seems that something has given them a push and it''s started earlier. And in a place it''s never been foretold to start at as well! This is the deviation which we were missing. Hayden, I suggest you immediatly find a way to create more of that little iron flying box-like thing and other things like it with weapons. We are going to need them." Landar finishes talking and the entire room is completely silent. (It''s begun, has it? The Prophesy?) Chapter 53. The much needed preparations. After Landar finishes speaking and the silence stops because everybody started going to their own rooms. Ion and I go to our room to discuss what sort of weapons and other things we should give to the Humans of this world. I sit on the couch while Ion lands on the table. "I don''t want to give them very modern weapons. We still need to have a secret up our sleeve after all. But if I don''t give them decent weapons it will be hard for us to not die." I immediatly start thinking about the equipment I need to give out. "How about some from 1990 to 2035, before the really powerful weapons were invented? The weapons in that time were easy to make and effective for their time. They also aren''t anywhere near as powerful as the true modern weapons the military of our time uses." Ion immediatly comes up with a good idea. "True, but the amount of variations on rifles and such is too great to choose from." I state another problem. "Then we use the most common for that time, from the country what was known as the United States of America at the time. I have most of their weapon blueprints before 2020 saved within my memory." Ion solves my problem instantly. I think for a little bit and then agree with Ion''s plans. "We still need to teach them how to make the cartridge, bullet, powder, primer and so on. Otherwise the weapons will be useless if they don''t have enough ammunition for it.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. We also can''t tell them that ''Oops, we know how to make flying iron boxes but not weapons which you have already seen'' now can we... I guess our only option is to just show them how to make these types of guns and maybe a few older vehicles as well. Nothing too close to our time though, it''d turn dangerous and fast." Me and Ion keep talking for a while after that. We eventually come out from our room and find Landar shouting out orders to servants and others. "Landar." I say his name and he turns towards me. "We have something very important to tell you. Me and Ion made blueprints for a few weapons and we also have a list of materials needed to create them. I don''t know if these exist here but I also added a short descriptions of all of them on this page. If you find them all, you can start creating this weapon and the needed ammunition to shoot it. Have some of your blacksmiths look at this and see if they can forge these if they have the materials." I hand a few papers over to Landar which hold all the necessary information for a few weapons me and Ion decided to give and how to create ammo for it as well. Landar immediatly walks off towards the blacksmiths probably leaving us with nothing to do except wait. (Guess he didn''t want to know if we could give him better weapons, now did he? Oh well. It''s lucky for us that he didn''t question it.) --- Meanwhile, at the front line --- "Burn down the gates!" Somebody shouts and instantly a whole volley of flaming arrows hits a wooden gate for a castle, setting it aflame. "Water! Bring the Water! Soldiers, get ready! They are going to attack!" Orders can be heard shouted from inside the castle. "Fire the Ballistae and the Catapults! Tear down those walls!" More orders are being shouted on the battlefield by unknown leaders. A few seconds later, the walls crumble and fall apart and a massive assault begins to take over the castle. A few minutes later, the castle is entirely taken over and in the courtyard a pile of corpses rises, at the top a broken flag which has been set aflame. The massive army leaves the castle behind, continuing their march. Chapter 53.5. (What are these... Will the blacksmiths even be able to do this? This thing called the AK47 or this other thing called M110... They called these weapons, but how would you even use them? They have no sharp edges... Like a bow? Or a crossbow? But where would the arrow be? Wait... They said ammunition so it probably isn''t arrows that are being shot... But what then? I want to find out...) As Landar keeps thinking and studying the blueprints, he walks towards the blacksmiths. He reaches the door to the blacksmiths and pushes it open. "Master Landar! What a surprise to see you visit us blacksmiths!" An older looking blacksmith says as he keeps on making a sword. Landar looks around a little bit before deciding to speak. "I have some drawings here, made by our guests. These are supposedly weapons. There are also descriptions of what they''re meant for. Like, take this AK47 for example, it says this is for regular soldiers but this M110 is for marksmen. Take a look and tell me if you can create them." Landar hands over the blueprints to the master blacksmith. The blacksmith looks at the blueprints for quite a while before responding. "The first few would be hard to create but after that, thanks to these descriptions, we can begin regular production. We just need the materials. We clearly don''t have a lot of these materials. The ammunition.. We can also create that if we had the materials." The blacksmith responds and puts the blueprints on a table next to him. Landar thinks for a while again before responding. "Alright. I''ll handle the materials. Just make sure you study these blueprints properly. These should be powerful compared to swords and bows but compared magic, I don''t know. Most of us depend on magic but that''s also our weak point. We depend on it too much. The instant we run out of mana, we are more than just fodder for the enemy." Landar talks a little bit and then quickly leaves.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He rushes towards the leaders of the gatherers and miners to see if they can find the materials. Once he finds the leaders and asks them, he recieves good news. (We can actually create them, we just need time. I hope the new Alliance at the front line will hold for long enough for our men to get new equipment and get there fast enough. This invasion force will eventually break through the Alliance, no doubt about that... ) Landar wanders around for hours before deciding to stay near the smithy to see the creation of the first guns in this World. --- Once more, at the front line of the invasion. --- On a blood ridden battlefield with piles of corpses stacked almost everywhere, two commanders are fighting with their portions of their huge armies. "Spikes, now!" The allied force commander shouts and spikes are raised from the grounds and enemy cavalry flies off their mounts, crashing into the ground and dying instantly. "RELEASE ARROWS!" A captain shouts and volley after volley of arrows get shot towards the enemy. "No Retreat! KILL THEM ALL!" The invasion force commander, clad in black armour, shouts while throwing a spear into the head of the captain who shouted to release the arrows. The instant the black armoured commander drops down into the brutal melee, the invasion force starts attacking even more ruthlessly, even using their own comrades as shields. "Activate it!" The defending commanders shouts and a magic trap is activated, creating a huge wall between the allied and the invasion force. "RETREAT! NOW! To the second line!" The commander shouts a retreat order. Just as their men barely get away from the wall, it crumbles due to the invasion force mages destroying it. "Chase them!" The invasion force commander gives the chase order. The chase continues for a few minutes with a lot of allied and invasion force men being killed before both the forces reach an eerily empty grassland. "Activate them!" The allied commander shouts another order to the mages who activate more traps set on the ground. This time, huge pillars of different types of colours pop out depending on what element the caster has focused on in their entire life. The allied forces get away since the invasion force mages couldn''t break through the elemental pillars fast enough. The brutal melee ends for the day as the invasion force readies for another assault whilst the allied force gets ready to defend once more. Chapter 54. The First. We waited for days, doing nothing. We couldn''t do anything, we had to wait for Landar to tell us that the guns had been created. (I hate this... It''s boring... I''ve done nothing productive all this time!) "Hayden, you have done productive things during the time we have waited. You found out a way to get stronger guns here without having to involve anybody else." Ion immediatly realizes what I was thinking. "True but there''s no point right now... These guns are meant to be used against other people with guns, not with swords and bows." I sigh. Ion lands on the table while I''m sitting on the couch. We just stay there, silently. Doing absoloutely nothing but wait for Landar to arrive, just like everybody else I came here with. (Now I know why the heroes in the stories trained when they had free time. Not to become stronger, they already were that. But to not be this bored. I could train to keep my skills up to date and not rusty but I''d waste bullets. And right now, I don''t know if they''re going to be even able to make some...) --- A few days later -- "Hayden! We''ve done it! The first gun and a batch of ''bullets'' for it has been made!!" Landar suddenly busts through my door, shouting news I''ve been waiting for. We stare at eachother for a few seconds before I react. "What are we waiting here for, Landar! Gather your troops! It''s time I show them how to use the guns! Even though we only have one but early training never hurts!" I push Landar out the door and we immediatly walk outside. Landar tells me to wait and hands me the AK47 with an entire magazine filled with 30 bullets, the standard.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. After half an hour, a ton of people in armor walk up with Landar leading them. "A bit of our soldiers has arrived." Landar says that and then I realize one of my mistakes. (Their armor, it''s too heavy. If they want to be slow behemoth''s wielding a big gun, then sure. But the AK47 is not a big gun. A gatling gun would be a big gun.) "Alright, first of all. Get out of your armor. Armor will only slow you down. It won''t help you in any way if you are trying to quickly kill as many enemies as you can before you run out of bullets. You must basically act like archers." They do exactly as I say, they get rid of their heavy armor without a single bit of hesitation. I look around and see that the captain had the strongest armor and had them put it up so it would look like an enemy. "See that, it shouldn''t be easily penetrable by an arrow right? But guns are not bows and bullets are not arrows." As I say that, I fire a shot right into the head and the heart. The soldiers were surprised at first since suddenly two loud bangs appeared which, if you are not used to it, is deafening. When they opened their eyes and looked at the armor, they had two clear holes in them, right where I aimed. "That is the power of a gun. Armor has no meaning. Maybe if you had so much armor that you''d need to be dragged around by a troll or something, then maybe this gun would be uneffective but there are more than just one type of gun. Similiar to how there isn''t just one type of bow." I start giving the soldiers a lecture and all of them listen but I think Landar listened the most carefully to each of my words since he actually wrote them up. "I don''t know how effective guns will be in this world against creatures such as Dragons and other thick-skinned or tough-scaled creatures but a ''gun'' will not be the only thing I bring into this world most likely. All of you must be prepeared to learn something new each time I bring it. Some day, one of you will be shooting hellfire upon your enemies or carrying the wounded away from the battlefield in a ''truck''. So all of you need to be ready to learn new things." I continue my lecture. (This is going well. They are learning.) --- A day later --- "Hayden, enough guns have been made for a company." Landar comes in again with good news. "Alright. Have them form seperate platoons, split them up as evenly as possible. A company has how many troops Landar?" I ask Landar a question since Ion has been giving me information which I''ve been teaching Landar, like the size of a company which has retained through the ages. "80-150. In our case 150." Landar answers immediatly. "Good. Split them up into... 6 platoons. Each platoon consisting of 25 soldiers. Supply them with guns and tell them to not do anything to the guns until I get to their platoon." I advise Landar further. Landar accepts my advice as he has no idea on how to do it himself yet, that is why he is listening to me obediently right now. To study things from me. Chapter 55. Alpha Platoon. After waiting for a while for the platoons to get ready, I head towards their gathering point. Once I reach it, I head towards the first platoon that I saw. (They all have guns and are holding them like I taught Landar. That is good.) One of the soldiers looks behind me and so do I. "Landar, you are finally here. You know these soldiers better than me. I need two of them who are capable of leading their entire platoon." After I hand out my command, Landar immediatly brings two men to the front. "These two have been known for their good leadership in hunts. All these men should trust them as well since this platoon is mostly consisting out of one of our hunter groups." I look over the two Landar brought forward and told me about. I point towards one of them that seems to be slightly stronger. "You shall become the platoon commander and your aide, your platoon sergeant is the person to your left." I calmly say and they nod. I look towards Landar and he smiles. (I think he already taught them the roles of the Platoon Leader since I have told him those...) The two men go back to their spots. "Alright, you are the first platoon that shall be put on one of those carriages and sent on the front lines. At first you might feel fright or you might feel that you are all-powerful. Neither of those are true. As a platoon, you need to stick together and protect eachother. In the course of this day, I''m going to drill into you the basics of a platoon." I finish my tiny little speech and immediatly order them to follow me. (A few team exercises should be good.) I bring them to an open field and order them to stop. "Alright. I need you to line up based on age. No talking though. Try to figure out who is younger and older without talking. Start." I look at them shimmy around until they get into a line in half an hour.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. "I''ll ask for your age starting from the left and going to the right. As in the line." I start asking them their age. (More or less got it correctly.) "Now. The same thing but with height! You only have two minutes for this! Hurry!" I push them forward with a time restriction and they immediatly get into the line I wanted to see. It took them near one minute. "Alright, you can talk now. Landar, can I ask you to get 8 wooden planks which people can walk on which aren''t huge." I ask Landar for a favor and he immediatly runs off to fulfill it, the soldiers are all silent and don''t say a word. "Alright, while Landar brings the needed pieces for the next activity. Also, if you are wondering why we are not using guns right now, you guys are lacking teamwork. This next one will need a lot of it." I look at each of them and Landar arrives just in time. "Split up into two. I know one troop will be over but they will go into the part they want to go into. So split up into a 13 and a 12 man squad." The soldiers immediatly form a gap between eachother. "You and you, come here." I point towards two random soldiers and hand them 4 wooden planks each. "This ''game'' involves teamwork. You both have 4 wooden planks and you need to use them like a ''bridge''. You will go in a straight line from here to that wall. First team to reach it wins. If any one of your teammates falls on the grass, you need to go back to the start.. Now.. Get Ready! Start!" I order them to start and they immediatly put the 4 wooden planks down and all of the team jumps on it and barely fit on 3/4 of the planks, just as needed. They don''t understand for a while that you need to re-use the last plank until one of them gets the idea and they get a massive gap over the others. (Would you look at that. Half-way and nobody has fallen of yet.) I let the game go for a while and they reach the end after 2 hours of trying. Each time they got around the end, one of them fell off on both teams. I run them through two more games and then stop. "Alright, you have good teamwork now. Well, good enough. It''s time for firing practice. We have about 5 hours for it. Line up in two lines, one behind the first." They immediatly comply with my orders. "Now, first line act like you are firing two short bursts and second line aim for the targets.. First line go behind the second line and second line act like firing. Repeat this action for a while. You''ll get to real shooting soon to handle the recoil." I let them do this one thing for about an hour until they get tired. "One hour break! Feel free to eat, drink or do anything." I give them a small break. They all leave and come back in exactly 1 hour. "Live firing practice. Do the action you did an hour ago but with actual firing. Do it only 3 times though." I continue training them through the day with the amount of things I remember from the military and the little bits of information that Ion gave me while I was prepearing. (Ion''s been silent this entire day and just floating around me... I wonder if Ion''s bored.) After training them, I told them to meet the next platoon and teach that platoon what I taught them and tell them to teach the next platoon as well. I then go to bed since I got tired from shouting orders all day. Chapter 56. The Calm before the New Storm. As I spent my days in the training yard and my new ''Mountain Home'', I was given a little bit of freedom to move around in the forests down below with an escort. The reason why I was given some freedom was since the Alpha Platoon was training the rest and the reason why I need an escort is beacuse Landar told me that I was too important to be killed by anything down in the forest. "The forest holds quite a few weird things, doesn''t it Ion?" I ask my most trusted companion. "Indeed. Even I was quite fascinated by the three-tailed howler monkey. It''s manueverability was quite surprising." Ion answers honestly. "True. The four-eyed wild boar was interesting as well, one of the eyes was always focused on our group while it ate. It kept it''s other eye on something else as well but I couldn''t see what that was sadly." I sigh as I slowly start going to sleep after a long day of walking around the forest. --- The next day --- "Brother! Where were you yesterday? I couldn''t find you at all!" I hear Alicia''s voice the moment I exit my room. I look towards Alicia who has her escort of six guards. "I was out in the forest with an escort. I wanted to see what the wildlife around here is like. My original goal was to investigate the signal and now I know what that is so... I''m just doing whatever I feel like. It''s a nice vacation from all the research I had to do usually." I answer Alicia in detail. "Can we come as well? I want to see those things as well!" I see Alicia getting very excited and I can''t do anything but agree to her request. --- Meanwhile near the front line while Hayden and his party are having fun --- "Sir! No sign of the enemy today either! It''s like they''ve vanished!" A common foot soldier shouts out to a commander who is walking down below.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "That is impossible! Keep looking! Form a scout party! They musn''t sneak past this castle without a single casualty!" The commander of the castle shouts out in anger. Immediatly, a search party is formed and sent out from the castle gates. They return a day later, half of them dead and the other half heavily wounded. "Sir... We found them... They are waiting for reinforcements, sir... We saw ships landing on the coasts..." The scout who was speaking collapses infront of everybody and slides off his horse, hitting the ground with a loud thump. All of the soldiers in the castle look at the collapsing scouts in shock before a soldier finally decides to take action. "Get the paramedics! They need help immediatly!" A soldier shouts as well. The commander sits down on the ground and sighs. "We could barely hold off their attacks as it is... Now that they''ve got reinforcements? It''s impossible. They''ll breach the walls and kill all of us. I hope the others are ready back there with their plan. Otherwise they''ll reach the United Capital.." The commander takes off his helmet and puts it on the ground. "Sir, we can only do one thing and that is to strengthen our defenses. Nothing else will do. We must hold them back as long as we can." One of the advisors, who stayed at the castle, suggests an idea to the commander. The commander puts on his helmet, grabs his sword from the scabbard and stands up. "All troops in this castle listen to my words! The enemy numbers have increased! But that means our fierce resistance towards them must grow as well! I command all of you to take down at the very least five of those damn fiends with you before you die! Strengthen the defenses! Reinforce the wall! Get all the anti-siege weapons ready! Prepeare for a very bloody siege!" The commander shouts at the top of his lungs and then raises his sword into the air. He then releases a fierce battle cry that is heard to even the scouts of the enemy who can barely see the castle. Everybody follows their commander and also raises their sword, spear or axe into the sky and shouts as well. After they shout, they start grabbing every unused stone, plank and anything unused and reinforcing the wall, the gate and even the side-doors with them. --- Three days later, in the same castle --- The castle is fully reinforced and ready for a long siege, even it''s food supplies are maxed out and many of the former barrels of ale are now full of water. "The enemy still hasn''t attacked? What are they waiting for?" The Commander asks, seeing the massive army of the enemy just sitting in their camp which has been moved quite close to the castle. None of the soldiers answer, they are all waiting for the enemy to make a single move. Chapter 57. Creating a storm. After quite a while of Landar leaving me to my own devices, he appears infront of me again. "Hayden, we have finished training all the platoons. It really hastened once the first two were taught. We now need to somehow deploy this tiny army to the front line." Landar kindly asks me for help once more. I think for a bit until Ion floats towards us and immediatly solves the problem. "How about we give them the Bushmaster and the Humvee? They should be useful to transport troops and to even use while at the front line. We built the helicopter, now that we have people to immediatly help us gather resources and even craft them, we can probably build enough vehicles for 6 platoons. I''ll personally tell Landar all the things needed for creating these." As Ion finishes his long talk, he wanders back into the room and both of us follow him. Using an entire day, he explains the creation of the Humvee and the Bushmaster and all their needed components in-depth a few times over. I mostly stayed there to make sure Ion isn''t grabbed by Landar since Ion has nearly no armaments on him. The next day, Landar was already doing things when I woke up and I saw him running around a few places while carrying a bunch of papers.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. (He must be gathering resources and things already...) Me and Ion spend the entire day just walking around the mountains, waiting for Landar to gather all the components needed so we can start making the Humvee and Bushmaster. --- 5 days later --- "I''ve gathered all the materials and the components are being created as we speak. We should be able to deploy the army soon once these ''vehicles'' are finished. I''ve already found the most time-effective path as well for our troops. Our messengers also brought good news, the enemy has stopped attacking the frontline but that is also the bad news at the same time. They stopped to gather stronger troops into their army. But the other part of the news is it will still take a while before the components are finished so go and have some fun in the forest." Landar drops an entire pile of news on me and then quickly leaves. Me and Ion walk out of room and go into the forest once more where we meet Alicia and the six guards wandering the forest as well. "Looking for secrets?" Alicia asks me with a smirk on her face as she quickly throws something to the six guards who suspiciously hide it. "Maybe, maybe not. That is up to your imagination." I answer with a straight face since I am trying to hold back my laughter at their attempt to hide something from me. "Well. Keep searching then!" Alicia says and then runs off with the six in tow. I start laughing once I make sure they are far enough from me. "They are trying to do something. Definetly trying to do something. Hey Ion, what do you think, should we start going a different path each time we come into the forest instead of the path we usually take?" I ask Ion with a smile on my face. "That would be interesting." Ion immediatly answers. Since that little encounter, me and Ion have been going completely random paths and Ion uses his abilities to make sure we don''t get lost each time. Chapter 58. To the front. --- About an entire month after the beginning of the creation of the vehicles --- I wake up and immediatly put on my clothes to leave my room. Ion is already flying near the door as well. "Today is the day isn''t it? An entire half a month of constructing Humvee''s and Bushmasters and then half a month of training the soldiers to be able to use them." Ion asks me and I just nod with a smile on my face. (Finally I can get out of this boring place. I''ve been sitting here, exploring the slightly interesting forest but still ultimately doing nothing.) I walk outside and Ion floats around me as we approach the convoy that is ready to leave. "Landar! Is everything ready?" I ask Landar who''s looking at the convoy with glee. "Yes, everything is ready. Your helicopter has been refueled, stocked up with resources and is ready to follow the convoy. We also put some back-up fuel and such in one of the bushmasters. Half of our army will go with the vehicles and the other half will follow up with carriages and such, am I right in your plan?" Landar confirms that everything is ready and asks about my plan. "Yes. I doubt we have the time to come and pick up the rest of the army once we''re at the front line." I answer Landar''s question and go towards my helicopter. Just as I get in I hear somebody shouting.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. "Waaait! Don''t leave yet! We''re still not in the heli!" I see Alicia shouting as she and her guards are sprinting full speed towards the helicopter. I turn on the helicopter just as they jump in and close the doors. The heli is stocked full of cargo instead of people so there aren''t any other people onboard. I slowly lift the heli off the ground and start following the fast moving convoy. (The only thing we''re missing is a tank but it''s best if they don''t know tanks even exist for now. They''d ask too much.) --- About three weeks of travel later --- "Hayden. Based on the map that Landar showed me, we are arriving soon." Ion notifies me we are almost there. I look down and see the convoy slowing down so I do the same. The convoy keeps moving at a decent speed and we see a castle from far away which is, by the looks of it, under siege. (Phew, luckily I taught them how to understand commands through flags.) I open my window and bring out a red and black flag and wave it towards the castle. It seems like they had eyes on the sky as the entire convoy sped up and I see some troops opened the humvee''s windows and are peeking out just in case. I rush ahead and land my helicopter slightly outside the castle, just far enough that none of the shots from the enemy can properly reach us. I also confirm in the midst of landing that this is a friendly castle due to a flag, which is one of the allied kingdoms flag, being flown in the castle. (Oh, it seems our arrival shocked both sides.) As we sent a messanger ahead with a notification to let everybody who is waving a blue, black and red flag through, they opened the back gates quite easily. The bushmasters and humvees rush into the castle courtyard, park themselves near the edges of the walls so they won''t get hit by loose rocks that easily and start unloading all the troops. The troops immediatly start running up to the wall to start shooting the enemy, just as we trained. I make sure the helicopter is in a safe place and secured so nobody can enter it and then I also go inside the castle, to talk with the leader of this location. Chapter 59. Relief Army. Thanks to the help of a translator, me and the castle captain could hold some sort of meeting to decide what to do now. "Alright, so we have decided on the fact that our group will move out to lift the sieges on the other castles to the north whilst you will try to defend this place until reinforcements arrive. I am not wrong, am I?" I ask the captain again through the help of the translator. "Yes. Seeing as you suddenly massacared a huge portion of their army and are currently causing them to retreat, I think I have more than enough time to build defences and wait." The captain answers. I stand up, do a light bow and then leave the small room we were meeting in. (I guess It''s time to head forward soon.) I walk around and see the girls peacefully eating and my soldiers on the wall resting as well. As I hop onto the wall using the half-destroyed stone staircase, I notice that there is no sign of the enemy anymore due to me just seeing a huge line of corpses. "Sir, as you can see the enemy has retreated somewhere. We shot as many as we could." One of the soldiers salutes me and tells me the situation. "Good. It seems we can move out soon since to the north, there are about four or so castles also under siege. We''ll just quickly go and lift those sieges." I say to the soldier and salute back. I then walk down the staircase, jumping over the several holes in it, and then going towards Alicia and the rest.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. "So, how are you doing over here?" I ask Alicia who currently has her mouth full and started coughing since I suddenly started talking behind her which scared her. After a while of Alicia coughing, she got up and looked at me. "Don''t do that! You scared me so much I saw Death himself!" Alicia then gives me a short lecture right infront of all the soldiers which actually sort of lifts their mood since a few of them laughed. Alicia finishes her lecture and then I tell her the plan. "Well, it seems we are going to be useless in this war anyways. Laurette and the rest were tasked with killing all of the enemies who managed to get to the wall. Guess how many got to the wall? None. Nobody." Alicia looks dissapointed that they got no action. All my soldiers climb in the Bushmasters and Humvees and I jump in the heli and lift off. One of the castle guards opens the gate towards the north and we speed out to relieve the other castles. It takes us about an hour to see the next castle but I also notice something else. (We are right behind the enemy. This is going to be fun.) I send a message to the convoy signaling that I can see the enemy and that we are behind them. Once I recieve the ''OK'' from the convoy, I go downwards so the enemy won''t notice me that easily and fly right next to the convoy. The closer we get, the faster the convoy starts moving. Once we are literally right under their noses and they are trying to make out what that noise is, I suddenly pull my heli towards the sky. Just as the enemy looks at me, the Bushmasters and Humvees crash through them, the soldiers in the humvees shooting everything on the sides and the front. The convoy rams through the enemy line and makes a line infront of the gate, bushmasters in the front and Humvee''s behind them. The bushmasters unload all the troops which immediatly take up locations where arrows won''t be able to hurt them and then start filling the enemy with bullets. A short while after, the enemy retreats after taking more than just heavy casualties whilst we took only a few scratches on the bushmasters due to arrows. I fly close by to the convoy, order them to move towards the third castle and take the position of the scout once more. Chapter 60. Third Castle. It only takes us 15 minutes to notice the third castle. And the massive army besieging it. I go forward and scout the area. (Nope. No way we are going to break through all that. Wait... Are those ogres and trolls!? Alright... Massive army plus monsters like that... This must be the main army.) I fly back to the convoy, signal them that we are going to break through the line so we can enter the castle and assume defensive positions. I then go to the castle, signal them that we are coming via the blue, black and red flag and then I rush back to the convoy. In about three minutes, my troops are inside the castle. The gates are instantly closed and the troops are in defensive positions. I also go up to the walls and take a few shots at one of the ogres. (What!? The bullets.... They are stuck in it''s arm? It didn''t even properly go through the skin since there is no blood...) "You, you and you. Concentrate fire on the ogre. Preferably aim for the eyes." I give out some orders since I need to find out how to kill those ogres before they get too close to the walls. Me and the three soldiers fire at the ogre''s eyes and somebody got a lucky shot and hit it''s eye straight on, piercing through it into the brain or something important since the ogre collapses and dies, crushing about forty of its own allies as well. "For the ogres and trolls, aim for the eyes!" I shout out some advice to all my soldiers on the wall and then I take aim on a troll.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I fire at it''s arm first to see if the bullets pierce the skin and they pierce quite easily. (Alright... The troll is different from the ogre... It regenrates! Quite fast as well since the bullet hole is already healed.) I shoot the troll in the head, straight in the eye. The bullet pierces the entire head of the troll and it dies quite easily. (The trolls aren''t much trouble. I think the trolls are used just because arrows and swords can''t pierce deep enough and the trolls regenrate those small wounds basically instantly. Too bad we have bullets and guns which pierce through.) I leave the wall and just walk around for hours, listening to the sound of gunshots. Eventually the enemy retreats, even though they have more than just mountains of corpses left behind. "Alright everybody, take a rest! At least 6 people must be on guard at all times!" I shout out another order and just a few minutes later, we hear a massive roar. I immediatly run to the wall to check what that was and I see a wyvern that is being pulled forward by ogres and is chained up. They pull the wyvern a little bit closer before they release it. The ogres try to run away but they all get massacared by the wyvern in a few seconds and then it looks towards the castle. "Everybody! It''s a wyvern! Get ready to shoot it down from the sky!" I shout out another order and all my troops run to the wall and start shooting at the wyvern once it gets to range. (The bullets... They''re bouncing off!) "Aim for the wings! Maybe if we shoot the wings we''ll disable it''s flying capability!" I shout and then aim for the wings and start firing. The bullets pierce the thin leather quite easily and the wyvern smashes into the ground before it can reach the castle. (How... How are we going to kill this? Shooting for the eyes won''t work.... It''s keeping its eyes protected. If it gets to the wall... It seems like it can climb over. And if it is like one of those wyverns from the book... It can also breathe fire.) I think and think but can''t find any solutions. All the troops in the castle are aiming at the wyvern, throwing or shooting anything they can find at it. (A trap... A trap! If we trap it in the courtyard of the castle and make it unable to move... We can find a way to kill it!) I find the translator and tell him to order the leader of the castle to set up the best trap for a wyvern he can. I order the bushmasters and humvees to be driven out of the castle so the wyvern can''t damage them. "Distract the wyvern as much as you can! Slow it down! Give time for the trap to be built! Aim for any part of it''s body that looks like it''s weaker than the others but don''t waste too many bullets!" I shout out orders and advice and so begins the plan to trap and kill the wyvern. Chapter 61. The Wyvern. As the wyvern marches forward, we are giving it hell. My soldiers are shooting it''s eyes in a very specific order so the Wyvern always has to keep it''s eyes protected which also hinders it''s visiblity. Some of the brave knights from the castle are outside as well, digging holes for the Wyvern to stumble into which it has many times over. (Our delaying tactics are working quite well. I''m just worried the enemy might show up while we still have our hands full with the Wyvern.) As everybody on the wall has calmed down due to seeing the wyvern cannot do much since it has to use one of it''s wings or ''hands'' to keep it''s eyes protected while he is also tilting his head so he cannot use his fire breath. (It does seem like the eyes are a major weak spot. It does not wanna show us them. No matter what.) After about 3-4 hours of delaying tactics, the wyvern finally reaches a certain distance from a wall. "Retreat! Retreat! The Wyvern is too close to the wall for delaying tactics! I hope to god that trap is ready or we''ll all be burnt meat by the end of this!" I shout as I run to the other side of the wall, taking cover inside one of the towers there. Everybody is hiding, including Alicia and her six guards since it seems not even they are confident in doing a head-on fight with a wyvern unprepeared. The wyvern climbs over the wall with ease and goes into the middle of the courtyard. I hear something being shouted once the wyvern looks back to where it came from and hundreds of arrows tied to ropes descend on the Wyvern and I even see chains and such being launched from the few ballistae on the wall. The Wyvern is immediatly pinned down to the ground so much that you can barely see it and it can move even less than you can see it. It tries to scream for help but the sheer amount of ropes holding down it''s mouth overpowers it.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "This won''t hold for long. If the Wyvern really starts struggling, it can probably get out. We need to work fast!" I shout out again and immediatly head for the wyvern''s eyes. (If it went through the problem of covering it''s eyes, it gives me quite an easy target.) Once I get to it''s head, I notice that the castle guards are piling ontop of the Wyvern as well, for extra weight. (This... If this wasn''t so serious and basically a life-or-death situation, I would be laughing my ass off from seeing this.) I find the eyes and take aim. "Has everybody found a location to shoot?" I ask my soldiers. "Yes sir!" The officers shout in unison. "Alright! After my shot, fire!" I shout out and take aim once more. I then take the shot and the wyvern dies almost instantly like the ogres and trolls. Or so we thought. The wyvern doesn''t do anything at first but it''s clear that it''s in shock. Once that it understood what happened and started feeling the pain, it became enraged. Our bullets definetly pierced it''s skin and went into it''s body but just not enough to kill it. It starts struggling and breaking the ropes but not the chains. It even managed to release it''s tail and flinged a few knights over the wall with it''s tail. "Everybody! Stay away from the tail! That thing is a deathwish! Take aim and shoot whenever ready! Shoot it as many times as you think is needed! Just... Kill it!" I shout and aim at it''s other eye which is quite hard seeing as I''m standing on the face of the Wyvern and it''s shaking it''s head in every direction in hopes of getting out. (You must be in quite a lot of pain... So please die! Otherwise we die!) I take the shot and somehow hit it''s eye and then I hear a series of shots and the wyvern stops struggling. "Wait! It might be playing dead!" I shout as I see some of my troops start to ease up. Once they hear me they jump back up and grab their gun in fright. We wait for an hour and I feel no breath come out of it during that entire time. "It''s dead! We killed it!" I shout out once I am sure that it''s dead. (It can''t be alive if it hasn''t breathed for an hour. If it is, it has lungs the size of a building.) A few of my soldiers fall to the ground in relief, the others go to the walls and sit down. About ten or so of my troops go and bring the bushmasters and humvees back into the castle, right next to the corpse of the Wyvern. I take another look at the wyvern before I leave it alone, just in case. (If this thing is still alive, it must be severely weakened. It ain''t going to break free while we are here hopefully.) The castle knights immediatly set up a watch since the enemy might attack us or think the wyvern killed us all so they are going to try to march into the castle. Luckily, no such attack came that day. Somehow, we managed to avoid all casualties from the wyvern attack except the few castle knights who got hit by the wyvern''s tail. Chapter 62. The Long Wait. Me and Ion started thinking heavily on how to combat these flying monstrosities. "We need some sort of anti-air vehicle. Something powerful." I say to Ion who immediatly runs a search on his database. "Found one record of an anti-air vehicle. The M19 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage made by the United States. Times it was active unknown, blueprints were just barely salvaged from one of the United States Military facilities. It''s main armament consists of two 40mm guns. Is this adequate enough?" Ion finds something and gives me a small bit of info on it. I think for a bit and then shout to one of my guards to hand me something to write on and something to write with. After about ten minutes of waiting I get what I wanted and immediatly start drawing up the M19''s blueprints thanks to Ion showing me them. I also include the materials and such needed to build it and how to build it. "I guess we should also include a sit-rep to Landar." I ask Ion. "That is indeed something we should do." Ion helps me with the sit-rep afterwards. I then order one of the castle guards to get me a messenger and then sent the messenger straight towards Landar with the blueprints and the sit-rep.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. "I hope he can produce at least one M19 and get it to the front before we meet another wyvern. 40mm guns should be enough to at least make the Wyvern unable to advance." I sigh and throw myself in a pile of hay near the convoy. (This place will be our headquarters for quite a while I presume. Seeing as all reports show this place was under the heaviest fire out of all the castles so the main army is either here or not on the continent yet. And I am not advancing without those M19''s to support us in case a Wyvern or worse... A dragon appears. Hell, all the texts about the legendary Wyverns and Dragons that i''ve read point towards the fact that Dragons are much more superior. If... If we meet a dragon and it is like that.... God save us all by giving us an M19 and god save us by making sure that M19 can kill it.) "Everybody, make yourself comfy! We are going to be here for quite a while! We aren''t moving before we get some reinforcements and at least one vehicle with a gun powerful enough to possibly shoot down anything that flies! So, sit down and wait! Maybe we''ll get a few targets to shoot every now and then, who knows?" I shout the order to all my soldiers and they all relax but keep their guns loaded and ready at all moments. --- The Unknown Land, The Three Figures --- "Aww, they''ve stopped." The first figure says. "It makes sense. They fought a wyvern and now they want to wait for some heavier guns to fight any air targets with. I mean, it is Hayden after all!" The second figure says. "But it''s so boring... Oh I know! Master! Master! Can I send the Scourge of the Seas to the sea where they are transporting their troops through? I can right?" The first figure asks the Third. "Hmm... Alright, you may. Hayden was unprepeared to fight the Wyvern''s and Dragon''s after all." The Third Figure responds and the first figure jumps up into the air in joy. "Go go Evrik! Kill them all! Evrik the Crimson!" The first figure starts shouting once it sees that the Scourge of the Seas, Evrik the Crimson, has met an enemy fleet and is entering combat with his own fleet of ships. Chapter 62.5. Timeskip moments. --- Evrik''s Fleet --- "FASTER! CRUSH THEM!" A man with crimson hair and even a reddish skin shouts out whilst putting on some tiny bits of armor near the vitals. "It''s Evrik! Get us out of here! Now!" A man dressed in full black shouts from another ship which is in the way of an entire fleet of ships dyed in a blood-red color. Evrik starts laughing so loudly it can be heard across the seas. "You shall not escape! Get me closer to them! NOW!" Evrik shouts out and throws an axe towards the enemy ship which lodges itself right next to the man dressed in full black. Suddenly, oars appear from within all Evrik''s ships and give a major speed boost to the fleet. The fleet easily catches the escaping ships. Evrik jumps onboard one of the ships and with one swing of a massive axe in Evrik''s hand, fifteen sailors are dead or severly injured. A slaughterfest begins, every single sailor on the escaping ships are slaughtered and thrown into the sea and the new ships are already half-painted in a blood red color. -- In the land of magma, lava and stone --- "Hey, have you heard... Evrik''s near our land." A soldier whispers. "Evrik? You mean Evrik the Flowered right? Right?" Another soldier whispers back. "No... I mean Evrik the Crimson." The first soldier whispers and the other one doesn''t answer back. They stand in silence for what seems like hours since the news about Evrik has spread fast and taken a large toll on the regular infantry''s morale.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Can we even get across now... I mean... I haven''t heard of a single ship that has escaped Evrik''s grasp." A soldier asks. "We must. It is your duty and my duty. The Lord ordered us to get across so we will try or die trying. That is our honor is it not? It is our destiny is it not?" An officer of the army answers. "S-Sir! Of course! It is our honor and destiny!" The soldier immediatly salutes after getting up. The officer walks away and the soldier falls back down. --- A corner of the land of magma, lava and stone. A lush oasis of plants and trees, protected by a fast and constant stream of water. --- "Madame, the time is fast approaching. Evrik''s made his appearance already, just as you predicted." A dryad says to a larger dryad. "Well, the Three are doing whatever they want so it was quite easy to predict them bringing Evrik here to help The One. We just need to play our role as a distraction for the King." The Madame looks outside the oasis just to see a wall manned by what seems to be a million men. "They truly are scared of what you can do, Madame." The smaller dryad once more speaks. "They might not be scared but wary. This new king, he is not dumb. He is cautious. He is way more dangerous than those hot-headed kings of the past. This time around I couldn''t get even half of a seed into the castle before all of the seeds were obliterated. He is very cautious. Incredibly so." The madame speaks and then sends a small seed towards the wall which immediatly gets burned. "This is going to be quite a wait, isn''t it Madame?" The smaller dryad asks and only gets a nod as a response. --- The King''s Castle, A hidden meeting room --- "This new king is useless! We could''ve won already if he had sent everybody over instantly! Those damn Dryad''s can''t leave that corner of theirs anyway, the magma will just disintegrate them! We need to get rid of the king." A big lizard shouts out quietly. "It is true he is quite useless. But replacing him might give us somebody worse. We should instead try to make him to our bidding. It is faster." A small imp-like creature whispers. Such a conversation lasts for many more hours until they come to a decision. "We install a regency. We make it seem like the lord got sick since he isn''t one of us so he wasn''t accustomed to one of our sicknesses and that our council is taking over the regency. Everybody agrees with this right?" The imp-like creature asks and everybody nods in agreement. Then they all get up, shake hands and slowly leave one after another into different directions. Chapter 63. Reinforcements. --- Three weeks after Hayden begun waiting --- "Sir! The reinforcements are arriving! The M19 is also coming!" One of my soldiers on the wall shouts out. (Yes! Yes! Finally! Three weeks of waiting and they''re finally here.) "Get the convoy ready! Once they have arrived, we are immediatly heading out after letting them rest enough! So, make sure everything is ready for departure!" I shout orders and one of the castle guardsmen opens the gate for my reinforcements. A few minutes after the gates are open, about ten bushmasters and humvees come through and three M19''s as well. "Hmm... Set the convoy up! Put one M19 near the front, one in the middle and one near the back!" I try to position the M19''s so they aren''t bunched up. I let the reinforcements rest for about five hours while I go through the reports Landar sent me. --- Five hours later --- "Get ready to depart! We''re going to try to hit their main army from afar and force them back to that island they came from!" I, once more, shout orders as I get in my helicopter which has been refilled and then I take off.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. I lead the convoy straight towards the enemy who are positioned near a dock, in defensive positions. (The reports from the castle scouts say they do this every time their reinforcements are arriving.) I signal the convoy to ride up to the hills and also take defensive positions since we have better range and they also have to run up a pretty steep hill. The M19''s are kept a little bit back from the main force but not too far. "We wait for them to come to us. Our bullets could hit them at this range but we''d just help them build a wall of corpses. They also have to attack us if they want to do anything since no matter which direction they go, we get there faster. So... Prepeare for a siege-like waiting period." I give orders and tips to my soldiers which are relayed all across my small, efficient army. --- The Enemy Army, third-person POV --- "Commander! There''s something weird on the hill! It''s like... Crates and boxes! But big ones!" A soldier gives a report to one of his commanders. "Send a few squads to deal with it! We wait for reinforcements!" The commander shouts out and throws a goblet at the soldier but misses. The soldier immediatly leaves the commanders tent. "Do you think the reinforcements will ever arrive... They are quite late..." Another soldier says to the one who just left the tent. "No... I heard that Evrik might be here... Evrik the Crimson... One of our small patrol vessels saw one of Evrik''s boats. The patrol immediatly beached themselves and ran towards here." The soldier says with a look of despair. Then the soldier goes to give out the orders the commander gave him. Chapter 64. Departing the mainland. "Sir! The enemy has started their attack!" One of my troops shouts and points towards the enemy who just released two wyverns who are flying straight towards us. "M19''s! To positions!" I shout immediatly and the M19''s drive to the middle of the hill and aim for the wyverns. I let the wyverns get closer to us a little bit. "Shoot those bastards down! Let them taste the dirt!" I shout and the M19''s release all hell upon them. The enemy infantry gets close to the hill as well but I order the troops to fire at them as well. In just a mere moment, A wyvern is killed and crashes down on thousands of the enemy and uncountable amounts of enemy troops are already dead just by us firing at them. "M19''s, get that other wyvern down and kill it and then shoot the infantry down below!" I order around and shoot the enemy as well. In about half an hour, the entire enemy is massacared and it seems that only a small garrison is left at the camp.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. "Men. You know what to do to that camp. Kill everything. Kill everybody. And get us those ships." I say as I get into the helicopter and start it up. I hear the humvees and bushmasters with the M19''s just obliterate everything via driving over it and the soldiers shooting whatever is left. I get the heli into the air and go towards the dock where my troops are headed. (If I remember correctly... The enemy arrived in ships half-covered in iron and also covered in magic. Which means the humvees, bushmasters and the M19''s should be able to go on them. Actually, they will definetly be able to go on them. They brought wyvern''s over after all.) I get near the dock and see one massive ship with about a 30 medium sized ships surrounding it. (No enemies in sight which means... These are our ships now.) I land on the massive ship''s stern and just barely fit without hitting anything. I look around and see my troops just drive onto the ships and I notice that the massive ship has a staircase that allows some of the humvees and bushmasters to just drive into a portion of the ship near the middle that is probably empty or for cargo. --- Fifteen minutes later --- (Alright... All the ships are ready. We just barely had enough men to sail these but I hope the M19''s can shred anything in our way to pieces...) We set sail from the dock and one ship with the M19 is in the front, and the other M19''s are on the sides. The massive ship I''m on is in the middle of the fleet. (And now... To the base of our enemies since we have nothing else to do except stop this war!) Chapter 65. The Landing. After we had sailed for a few days, I started getting suspicious. (Where are all the enemy ships? They had a navy big enough to transport that massive amount of troops and goods over so... Where is it?) I told everybody to keep themselves on edge as we don''t know what we might run into anymore. Though such suspicions dissapeared quickly and another one surfaced. Two or so days later, we found a massive field of wrecked ships, mostly ones like the ones we stole. The wrecks had been stacked ontop of eachother in a pattern so they stuck out of the sea like four massive pillars. We kept sailing onwards but with a new fright. (What could''ve done that? Killed all those ships and stacked them ontop of eachother no less. Such a feat would require either a massive amount of ships or a nearly god-like strength.) After that massive field of wrecks, we only saw small little ships which had been crashed into islands and rocks sticking out of the sea. We sailed for four more days before we reached a bay of the Island we had to get to but we were not close enough to see what was waiting for us. --- Present Day, Hayden''s POV --- "Sir! We have visual on the beach! They''ve prepared a surprise party for us!" One of the soldiers runs into my cabin. "What do you mean by... A surprise party?" I ask slightly confused. "It''s better for you to see for yourself." The soldier says and I quickly get dressed and head out onto the deck. I see Alicia walking up the stairs while being assisted by her six guards since she is still basically asleep. She walks infront of me and hugs me. "Morning, brother... And next time... I''m sleeping in your bed since I couldn''t get any sleep..." She says innocently and almost falls asleep while holding me. "Alicia, you can sleep next to me next time but right now, we have a slight problem to deal with. Laurette, can you take her and make sure she doesn''t get hit by a stray arrow since I have a feeling that is the surprise party they have for us at the beach." I say and pull the still-sleeping Alicia off me and hand her to Laurette.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. I head to the front of the ship''s deck and see an immeasurably big army standing right infront of the bay. Only then do I notice how they knew where we would land. "The damn pillars... Those weren''t caused by a battle... They themselves stacked those ontop of eachother... And I followed it straight to this bay..." I sigh and look at how I can defeat that army without being killed first. I then come up with a brilliant or just plain stupid idea. "Everybody! Get into your vehicles and somehow get them to the bottom of the ship! I don''t care if you break the ship or not, just do it! Send the signal to the other ships as well. We''re landing on the beach. And we are doing it quite roughly as well!" I shout out an order and the soldier in charge of steering the ship immediatly realizes what I mean. "Setting course straight into the middle of that enemy army!" The soldier shouts, locks the wheel in place and then runs to a vehicle down below. (We are going to crash into the enemy at full speed.) "Laurette and the rest of you guards, get into the helicopter. We''re going to the sky." I say that after everybody has left the deck except us nine, that nine includes Ion who had always been near the helicopter managing it. Once I jump into the heli, I hear the heli doors close and then I take off since Ion had already started the heli. Just as we got to a decent height, we saw the massive ship and the other ships smash straight into the ranks of the enemy and then the humvees, bushmasters and even the M19''s drive out from the broken front of the ships and if there weren''t any, they made some with grenades. I direct the convoy to drive towards the other side of the beach to set up a defensive formation so we can slaughter them ontop of this elevated hill. My troops successfully escape the grasp of the enemy army without losing a single vehicle and set up our new well-known tactic which also includes the M19''s as basically miniguns. I land the heli a decent distance behind the M19''s and shut it down as I don''t want to waste too much fuel just yet. By the time our formation is in place, the enemy reorganizes and starts marching towards us even though it is already too late. Exactly a minute later, the first gunshots could be heard and a slaughterhouse began. (If any Wyverns and Dragons come out... We''d probably be dead. I wonder why there aren''t any...) As I rack my brains over this question, most of the enemy army had been slaughtered with only 1 arrow piercing the ear of one of our troops. --- At the castle of Hayden''s ''enemy'' --- "Master, we must send in the dragons and the wyverns! Otherwise the enemy will get here!" The figure shouts out. "NO! They must stay here and defend the castle! I hope you haven''t forgotten that they aren''t our only enemy!" The king-like figure shouts and then waves his hand. The other figure knows the meaning behind that and immediatly leaves. The king-like figure takes off his crown but sits on the throne. "They''ve arrived. Finally. Finally they''ll destroy this kingdom of mine and release me from this burden. I can''t even leave this room without having fifty almost half-naked maids follow me around! I mean, if I didn''t want to meet with Hayden and Alicia this would be heaven but at the moment... This is hell! I''m no king! Hayden would be a better king! I would trust Hayden to even rule over 100% of my life and I''d be completely happy with it! But they still don''t realize that I don''t want to fight Hayden... I even straight-out told them that once but they just ignored it! It''s like they only listen to my orders when they want to or when I actually command them like a king... Hayden... Please hurry up... Just please... Just come and save your old pal, Jayd..." Jayd says without noticing the small little green sappling floating in the corner of the room. Chapter 66. Finale. As the convoy heads straight towards the enemy capital that I found during my flight, a strange occurence happens when we are half of the way there. "Hayden. The Troops are sending an ''assistance'' signal. From up here it seems like a big tree appeared infront of them all of a sudden causing them to halt. The cause of them not moving forward not known. I suggest we go down and investigate, you all need to stretch your legs anyways." Ion says really quickly and I barely catch all of it. I take Ion''s advice and land near the convoy and shut down the helicopter. The moment I walk out of the helicopter I notice it. "What... Is that? Is that a person?" I ask but nobody in my immediate area knows the answer. "It could be one of the legendary Dryads. This used to be their island anyways if the Legend of the Dryad''s Fall is to be believed." Yofie, the quietest of the bunch, suddenly speaks out and when I look at her, I think I saw a sparkle in her eyes. "You are correct. I am informed you are the leader of this group, Master Igbhan. I am the Dryad Cyrilla, the others are hiding in the tree still but they are Clovara and Cottonae. They are very shy so excuse them. I am one of the remaining Four Great Dryads. If I had to count all the Dryads left on this land, it would be twenty five. And I know that little girl would like to know such a tadbit of information." Cyrilla says as she suddenly appears right infront of me. Once she finishes speaking she grabs my head and puts her forehead on mine. After about half a minute of this awkward situation, she finally releases me and I finally see her in her full glory. (A woman, it''s just that she has no legs, those are replaced with roots... Her hair is tree branches by the looks of things but everything else is... Human... At least she knew that she had to cover herself up before revealing herself...) "Do not worry, I just made a connection with you. I know why you are here. You want to get to the castle right? I can help you with that. I can call all the Dryads together to help you with your final push into the castle if you want to, it''s just that..." She is about to say before Ion cuts her off. "It is too dangerous for the Dryads. That is what you are going to say right? I am sorry that I cut you off but I did some computing and the success rate for this army is 99.9% due to dissapearance of the Wyverns and Dragons. Adding them into the count would mean our success rate would drop to a mere 20%. If all of them are guarding the castle, having the Dryads with us will all die meaningless since the success rate is... 0%. We can never breach a castle guarded by dragons and wyverns seeing as our military currently does not possess a weapon strong enough and cannot create one strong enough." Ion finally speaks up since I noticed he was computing something the entire time we were flying. The Dryad sighs and chuckles a little bit. "That is true. It''s just that... After eternities of running, we, the Dryads, want to fight back! The instant you appeared here, Master Igbhan, all of the Dryads knew our chance has appeared! At the very least... Let us help heal your wounded! We all want to help you! The torture and pain we had to go through due to those damn beasts in that castle can never dissapear! We want revenge! That new king of theirs, we know what he is like. He is not to blame for this war. But those generals of his? ALL of them MUST be massacared! Not a single one left alive! They are beasts of war! They only know war! They only want war! They shouldn''t exist in this world! They are the ones that decided to scorch the land near the castle so they can expand it! They are cruel and they MUST BE MASSACARED!" The Dryad drops her act and starts shouting. It is clear that she means everything she says as the air around her changed the moment she started talking about the generals. Once she calms down a little, I put my hand on her shoulder. "You can help us, I won''t say no to help. It''s just that... We don''t need more needless casualties. Just stay in the back and support us. If we know that even if we get injured, we can heal and come back that will help our morale more than enough. See that convoy that is organizing itself? All of them want to end this war. Help them end it." I say in a calm tone and once I finish, the Dryad nods and dissapears. Suddenly, I see the tree shrinking and then it starts moving at an unnaturaly fast speed. (Phew... Well, at least we know we aren''t alone on this scorched rock. But I wonder what she meant by that the king is innocent... Well, I''ll see once we get there and hopefully met zero dragons and their lesser beings, wyverns.) I go up into the air once more and direct the convoy towards the castle. The rest of the way is clear and by the time we see the castle, we notice the gates are open and a non-hostile welcome party has been arranged. I order the convoy to halt and set up defensive positions whilst I land my helicopter behind the convoy. I get out of the convoy and notice a single horseman with a letter in his hand ride towards us. Once he reaches to the convoy and hands the letter to me, he goes back into the castle. I open the sealed letter and to my surprise, I see a familiar name at the end of it. The surprise was big enough that I almost started crying. "Jayd..." I say that under my breath but Alicia catches it.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Jayd? Jayd is here?" Alicia says with surprise. I nod as I slowly read the letter. "Jayd is the king apparently. He wants us to help him break free, that''s why all the wyverns and dragons are already dead. He explained their death to the generals as ''materials to create the perfect weapons''. Just as you''d expect of Jayd. It also says here that the gates are open so we can go in and kill everything from the inside, like an Excellion Ship." I say with a smile on my face. (Author''s Note: Excellion Ship is basically my future version of the Trojan Horse.) "Convoy! Get ready for battle. We are heading in. The moment we reach the keep, fortify our positions and take the walls. Close the gates and massacare everything outsie of the inner wall!" I say with extreme confidence in my voice since Jayd used his power to empty the inner walls of troops to make a ''pathway'' for us into the keep. He also included a map for us so we know what locations we need to look out for. (Jayd. I should''ve taken you and Alicia to this trip from the beginning.) I enter into the helicopter and start it up. The convoy gets into a line and drives on the red carpet prepeared for us at a decent speed. Apparently Jayd knew we had cars and informed his troops of them so they thought they were our variation of a ''horse carriage''. I landed my helicopter in the inner wall and I notice my troops acted quickly as they closed the gates and immediatly opened fire on the line of soldiers that were clearly hostile towards us. I open the doors to the keep and see Jayd sitting on the throne, looking at a man to his right. (Ah, so that''s why Jayd couldn''t just meet us outside the keep.) I walk forward with a smile and my ''entourage'' follows suit. We walk very close to Jayd and I smile. Jayd knows what I mean and just as I was about to bow, I took out my pistol and shot the unknown person. "Jayd. Long time no see." I say as I get up once more. "I presume those are your troops outside shooting everything I rule?" Jayd quickly makes a joke. "Yup. Where are the generals the Dryad spoke of? I need to ''dispose'' of them apparently. They are cruel and such." I ask Jayd and he points toward the door to my right. "In there. They are having a war gathering. They don''t know you are in here since that is a sound-proof room. They can''t hear anything." Jayd says and then looks at Alicia. Alicia looks at Jayd, bows, and then looks at me. (Jayd and Alicia still are kind of cold to eachother when I''m around... I know they get along like friends when I''m not but they only are like friends and nothing more. Well... What would I expect if Alicia has rumors spreading back at the lab that she only has eyes for me.) I think about such things as I walk to the door and open it. Inside I see eight people surprised to see the door open. "Bye bye." I say as I pull the trigger nine times, one more than needed since one of them was pretty fast in his effort to get up from the chair and got a bullet in his gut and now in his head. "You really made things easy for me, Jayd. I expected a massive battle with half of my troops dying and me losing an arm or two." I say jokingly. "I can still arrange that." He says as he takes a sword from behind the throne. "I''d rather not have to replace my arm with a prosthetic one." I say and Jayd throws the sword behind the throne once more. Once the gunshots finish, we head outside and see that my troops had massacared the troops guarding the castle. "Aaand that''s another ten thousand or so dead." I say as I look over the top of the wall. After we finished off everything in the castle, we headed outside and met with the Dryads. They were ecstatic to hear they had their island back and immediatly bowed to us as their new ''High Lords'', whatever that means to them. The Dryads promised to send something to us once we say where our home would be and I am kind of afraid to find out what that will be. During the sail back to the mainland, I told Jayd all about my adventure and we had a grand time sailing back. On the mainland, we met up with the kingdoms at war and formed an ''eternal alliance'' with them since they were a little too grateful. On the way back, we headed to the Empire as well and visited Emilia. The moment she heard of our arrival, she ran out of the keep without guards and jumped the moment she saw me, almost breaking my back with the impact from her headbutting my stomach. In the end, we had to stay an entire two days in Emilia''s castle since she wouldn''t let us go no matter what and only after two days we got out with me promising we would come back here and make our home here. I never knew Emilia was this possessive of me... The trip back to The Humans was quite uneventful since most villages hadn''t heard of the end of the war yet so they were still on edge. Once we got back to Landar''s place, we were met with more than just a tiny army. We were met with the entire Human Kingdom now knowing how to shoot a gun and the main chieftains said they would work with us as long as we were willing to work with them, essentially sealing a mutual benefit pact or an alliance. I let my convoy go and they headed home after the trip and I told Landar to bring the vehicles to the Empire''s capital once he could and he said he would personally come over as well. The trip back to the Capital was exciting as I saw that damn turtle again. This time, it was looking at me and I think I saw the damn thing smile at me when I passed by. I tried to land near the Turtle but it was frankly impossible, it was pure forest. In the end I gave up and swore to find that turtle and all its friends. Back in the Capital, a big mansion had already been arranged for us due to Emilia. It was also suspiciously close to where Emilia''s bedroom is in the keep. Me, Ion, Jayd, Alicia and the Six Guards: Yofie, Laurette, Brenelle, Daphiel, Esther and Lailah all started living together in the mansion that was clearly too big for us nine. I started bringing new technologies to light, slowly but surely and making proper arrangments so they''ll never be misused during my lifetime. Ion and Jayd helped me with many of them and so did Alicia. The six guards kept throwing out thieves and even some perverts who thought they could close to either Alicia or even worse... Me... In the end, it comes out that the Dryads sent one of their own at me. They sent Cyrilla. It was a true surpise to see her blushing as I opened the door after she knocked. It seems that on her path here, all the men in the town had kept their eyes locked on her. Our lives are still infront of us as only eight years have passed since that war and Jayd always keeps commenting that I have my own ''Harem'' of nine women and probably more. I don''t know what he is trying to say with that but Jayd seems happy after finding himself a wife a year ago. Who knows, maybe our group will be able to go on another adventure again. Like finding that damn turtle that is still evading me. --- Somewhere, in the realm of the three figures --- "It seems their story has ended." The First Figure says. "Yes. Yes it has." The Second Figure says. "They''ve done more than enough. They can live in happiness for as long as they want now. Seeing as their lives are long. Very long. Everybody around Hayden has a long life. That world is going to have a Thousand Years of a Golden Age caused just by Hayden existing." The Third figure says, smiling. "True. Now we just need to wait. The many stories in the universe are still beginning. I wonder when that rabbit will finally realize it''s destiny. Or when that project will go horrendously wrong." The First Figure says quietly to the Second. "Oi oi, those are spoilers. We shouldn''t know about that. What if master heard you..." The Second whispers back. "I know you know of them. I don''t really care. There are too many stories. All of them somehow connected. Even I cannot see it all. How would I say it... Not even Destiny knows what awaits for all of them." The Third Figure says and then looks into the cloud and changes the picture to another story.